Try A Little Tenderness
by E Salvatore
Summary: Sarah Williams grew up and put away childish things, childish dreams, childish memories. But when tragedy strikes nine years later, a Goblin King from her childhood proves to be the only one capable of helping. And so she invites him back into her life. A little heavy at first but soon followed by a nauseating amount of fluff.
1. Part I: Chapter I

**TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS**

**Summary: Sarah Williams grew up and put away childish things, childish dreams, childish memories. But when tragedy strikes nine years later, a Goblin King from her childhood proves to be the only one capable of helping. And so she invites him back into her life. Heavy first few chapters, fluff to follow soon after. Definitely Jareth/Sarah.**

**Disclaimer: It's been a good twenty-something years, so you'd think the rights to the movie would be somewhat more affordable now. But no, I've been saving up for **_**nothing**_**. **_**Labyrinth **_**is many things, but it isn't mine. I couldn't even come up with a title for this, for crying out loud. More on that in the A/N below.**

* * *

**PART I**

_**Chapter I**_

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Moonlight flooded in through the open windows, bathing the familiar room in a soft glow. Beams of pale light fell upon his sleeping form, washing away the color in his hair until all that remained was an unruly mop of silver. His chest rose and fell slowly, painfully slowly, and she knew it wouldn't be long now.

Sarah reached for the boy's right hand, one of the few limbs and appendages free of bandages and casts, and gripped it securely yet gently in her own, mindful of his condition. Tears clouded her vision and distorted the sight of her brother as her eyes fell upon the cuts and bruises on his face, the sea of white bandages covering up more of the likes on his arms, chest, legs…

"Oh, Toby," She cried softly, her voice thick with sorrow and pain. "You stupid, stupid boy." She chided gently, not a hint of reproach or even disapproval behind her words. It was too late for that now. Surely her baby brother hadn't meant to fall off the roof of his school building. He was a perfectly happy ten-year-old boy, a boy with average grades and a handful of little league victories and countless friends. A boy with a mother and a father and a sister, all of whom loved him very, very much. A perfectly happy, normal, wonderful boy with everything to live for.

No, her brother hadn't meant to fall off the roof and sustain a three-story drop. His plan had ended at sneaking up to the rooftop garden and sitting on the ledge on a dare from Tom or Tim or whatever the neighbor's name was. It was just the kind of stupid thing ten-year-old boys did with their friends.

And now here he was, in his bed, in his room, in his home, drawing shallow breaths that each, Sarah feared, would be his last. The doctors had sent him home yesterday, and even though no one had possessed the nerve or the heart to state the obvious to either grieving parent, one of the doctors, an older man, had inadvertently revealed everything to Sarah with one sympathetic, defeated look.

There was nothing more they could do for him. With all of their fancy doctorates, all of their modern machines, all of their scientific breakthroughs, there was nothing a single doctor in this world could do for her dying baby brother.

Dying.

It was the first time she'd phrased it that way, even in her own bitter, painfully truthful mind. And it strengthened her resolve even more. She would _not _stand by in her old room, by her brother's deathbed, and count his breaths and his eyelashes and the freckles on his cheeks crisscrossed with angry red cuts and illuminated by pale moonlight. She simply wasn't strong enough.

She wasn't enough. Karen's pleas and their father's silent tears weren't enough. The doctors and surgeries and machines weren't enough. Nothing in this world was enough.

What she needed, in this moment, was a miracle for her brother. Nothing short of magic. And though she had vowed to leave that world behind, to wake up and anchor herself in reality, to forget his very name… sitting by her dying brother and listening to his now labored breathing made that impossible.

And so Sarah spoke the words she had never, ever, even in her darkest hours, let herself speak. It was no more than a whisper, a hesitant call, an empty prayer uttered by one unsure of one's faith and one's worthiness.

"Jareth."

All was still. Moonlight filtered in uninterrupted. The open windows allowed a gentle breeze – _fresh air might do him good_, they'd offered as a last resort, they with all of their medical degrees and doctorates and fancy certificates - into the room and nothing more, no howls or shrieks, no thunder and lightning. No Goblin King.

Drawing a deep breath to infuse her voice with more strength than she had felt in the last six days, more belief than she had felt in the past nine years, her lips formed his name once more, followed by a desperate plea.

"Jareth, please. I need you."

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**Hi there. Welcome to my first attempt at a **_**Labyrinth **_**fic. Well, the first one I've actually written enough of to publish. Choosing a title for this ****story**** actually proved trickier than the writing itself, and after much back-and-forth (with myself), I settled on a **_**Florence + The Machine **_**title to hammer home the point that things will be different this time around. Jareth is trying a little tenderness. (Get it?) And Sarah too, in later chapters.**

**It might seem a bit heavy and sad for now, but fear not, my fellow fangirls-and-boys. This is only the first part and I'd prefer you think of it as backstory, something to keep you from wondering just what exactly is going on between Jareth and Sarah once the main focus of the story starts. I expect the first part to last two chapters, no more than three, before we skip a few months and see where we find our leading characters in the second part of this story, which won't be all that long either. Something short and (hopefully) sweet to get me started off with this fandom, I figure.**

**How am I doing so far? I couldn't possibly hope to compare with some of the very best I've seen in the archives here, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. It's always just the slightest bit intimidating when you enter a new fandom, no matter how many times you branch out, so maybe set me at ease? **

_**E Salvatore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


	2. Part I: Chapter II

**PART I**

_**Chapter II**_

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The boy would not make it through the night.

He sat in a forgotten rocking chair pushed to a dark corner of the vaguely familiar room and watched as life seeped out of the boy's cheeks, his body, his soul. The very boy he'd once bounced on his knee as a mere infant, the boy he could have loved as his own.

Not that he could have loved him any better than young Toby's sister, the girl who had nurtured her brother, raised him, taught him the rights and wrongs of the world his parents hadn't, loved him with a warmth they were not capable of, stood by him with a strength they did not possess.

Even now, as his sister loosely gripped the boy's hand and her shaking fingertips hovered above the strands of golden hair that had fallen into his face, hesitant, _afraid_, to even touch him, his parents were somewhere in this old house, pathetically crying into each other's shoulders as they left a young girl to guard over her brother in his very last moments, too weak to offer the boy any of the comfort and last goodbyes he so rightfully deserved as a well-loved child.

Sarah had always been the stronger one. Stronger than her mother, so afraid of being inconsequential that she had simply up and run in the hopes of carving out a name and a legacy for herself, leaving behind her husband, her daughter, her entire life. Stronger than her father, who had consequentially pushed away his own daughter, too weak to face the mirror image of his wife day in and day out, too scared to push past his daughter's looks to discover that she was nothing like her mother, nothing like her father. Stronger than him, the Goblin King, the pathetic man who had spent the last nine years hopelessly in love with her while she convinced herself that moving on was the right thing to do and had proceeded to do exactly that.

Sarah had always been strong.

Now, standing guard in her childhood room, the one she herself had spent an entire weekend modifying for her brother, he found his hands bound as he waited, hoped, _prayed_ for her to say her right words.

Her brother was but a tiny doll in the huge bed she had painted jaunty, brightly-colored nautical stripes on, deathly still even as he slept on top of the covers, the heat irritating his carefully covered wounds, wounds his sister had bathed and clothed. Barely sealed, bloody gashes stood in stark contrast to his recently acquired snow-white complexion. Bulky casts swallowed up the boy and left a broken doll in its place. Hurt lungs and broken ribs worked overtime to function, resulting in uneasy, shuddering breaths Sarah occasionally kept count of in a soft murmur, almost as if to fend off the heavy silence and thick atmosphere in the room.

He knew, as the Goblin King sometimes knew these things and as all Fae can feel such shifts, that there would not be many more breaths for Sarah to count if she did not act swiftly. It was not a question of whether or not she remembered him. It was not a question of whether or not she would call upon him. All that was left was simply for Sarah to pull herself together, weary mind and exhausted limbs, and give in to him the way she had sworn she never would.

She would rise above it. She would be stronger than that, stronger than a young woman who would rather forfeit her brother's life than break a half-hearted promise she had muttered to herself in her earlier years, fueled by a fire and self-righteousness only confused and nearly-sixteen-year-old girls can feel. She was stronger than that, he just knew it.

She had always been strong.

Jareth prayed her strength would not fail them this time.

She had always been strong, but he had always been the one standing behind her, holding unwavering faith in his precious Sarah.

She had yet to let him down.

"Jareth."

He leapt to his feet on the hardwood floor, abandoning his previous post. She had called and now he was to swoop in, to save her brother, to do the impossible. For a moment, a moment too long, he found himself shaken by that thought. The impossible. What if he failed? What if young Toby, broken and bruised, was beyond even his magic of dreams and wishes?

"Jareth, please." The young woman half-sobbed even as she steadied her voice and worked to keep it clear and strong. "I need you." The dam broke with her long-overdue confession and Sarah dropped her head into her waiting hands, muffling her pained cries.

Her words and her cries moved him more than the most heated demand possibly could have. He knew, in that moment, that he would not fail her. He would not cause her any more pain. He would not allow her to cry any longer.

Jareth stepped forward into a corporeal form and placed a hand on Sarah's shaking back.

"I'm here, Sarah. I'm here now."

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**Right, so much for wrapping up the first part in two chapters. Next one will be the end of this downer, that's for sure. My inner fangirl is demanding that I 'bring on the fluff', and as she guides and controls most of my thoughts, actions and stories, I'd best bow to her wishes.**

**I'm quite eager to get to the fluff too, but it felt right to give Jareth a piece of his own, even if it was mostly rambling thoughts and observations with (one would hope) some insight into both main characters. What do you guys think? Was this worthy of its own chapter or should I have skipped it and followed up where I left off last chapter? As usual, reviews are warmly welcomed.**

_**E Salvatore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


	3. Part I: Chapter III

**PART I**

_**Chapter III**_

* * *

She felt his presence the second he materialized, three steps away from her as she tried to stop the big, fat tears that persistently rolled down her cheeks. His warm, solid touch on her shoulder and his reassuring words meant to soothe and comfort after days of her being the strong one, the reassuring one, had her out of her chair and on her feet in two seconds, turning around to face him for the first time in nine long years.

So many times she had been tempted to call for him. So many days she had barred his name from her lips. So many nights she had spent wide awake, cursing herself for forgetting the exact details of his appearance and berating herself for even caring.

Had he come to her side for any other reason, on any other day, she would have taken her own sweet time to drink in the sight of him – the mismatched eyes she now realized were just two different shades of blue, the upswept eyebrows she had learned were actually Fae markings, the hair that no amount of folklore and mythology she read could ever explain.

But he had come here, now, tonight because she had finally had the strength and willpower to call on him, and the reason for her summons slept uneasily in a bed not three feet away from them, his shallow breaths piercing the silence that had followed the Goblin King's unexpected greeting.

"Please," Sarah could manage no more than an unsteady whisper after her breakdown barely a minute ago, and it helped her focus on what was truly important at the moment rather than trip over her own words in a rushed monologue she had spent years outlining. She'd spent many nights imagining what she would say to him were they to ever meet again and the resulting rough draft hadn't been anywhere close to the short, desperate plea she found herself speaking instead. "Please help him."

Jareth himself had no less than three parchment papers' worth of words to deliver but Sarah's eyes, desperate and scared and still bright with tears, told him it could wait. Anything and everything could wait until he performed the miracle she had swallowed her pride and gathered her courage to ask him for. His hand, the one she had inadvertently shrugged off as she'd jumped to her feet, reached forward to encircle her delicate wrist and he wished, not for the first time, that he had thought to remove his gloves, if only to feel for himself if the inside of her wrist was as soft as it seemed. Soon, he told himself, well aware of what was to come in their bid to save her brother.

"I will," He promised softly and simply before using his hold on her to gently move her to the side, allowing him access to the young boy. She hesitated for a brief moment, one that spoke of doubt and lingering distrust and their past, and then she moved aside and watched as Jareth folded his tall frame into the chair she had just vacated, his leather-clad hands mere inches away from Toby's sleeping form.

She watched in strange fascination and silent fear as Jareth pulled off his gloves, conjured a crystal and beckoned for her to join him. Her mind had never been so made up – she would do anything to help – and her knees had never been so weak - some part of her was simply _terrified _to go any closer to the Goblin King, for conflicting reasons that brought up corresponding feelings. In a moment reminiscent of their shared history, she shot her feet an encouraging look, an unspoken _come on, feet_ lingering in the air. Two steps and she placed her hand in the Goblin King's outstretched one, determinedly ignoring the sudden skip in her heartbeat and the tiny voice in her head that informed her this was the first time she had ever touched his bare skin.

She had intended to take a quick peek at his face, just to see if maybe he had realized the same thing, but a slight jolt of electricity – no, magic – caused her eyes to shoot to their joined hands before a light chuckle drew her attention to the waiting man.

"I _do _wear gloves for a reason, precious." He explained and she tried, futilely, to ignore the term of endearment. Her heart hadn't missed so many beats in such a short amount of time since she had last lived under this roof. Jareth quickly reclaimed her attention as he started speaking.

"Sarah, I can heal your brother but you'll need to say your right words." He informed her and her eyes widened.

"Me? But-"

"Trust me, please. _He had given her certain powers_," he quoted her words from all those years ago softly, gently, not a hint of mockery or teasing in his voice as he tried to convince her. "You _do _remember that part, don't you?"

She could do no more than nod as her wide eyes were drawn to his seemingly magnetic orbs. Of course she remembered that part, and the part that had come before it. If Jareth was saying what she thought he was saying, then he was about to turn her entire world upside down twice in one night. But none of that mattered right now, she was swiftly reminded as a particularly sharp inhale broke through the night and put an end to their eye contact.

Toby.

Toby was in pain.

Jareth was here to save her brother and she somehow figured into the plan, and that was that. She would not question him. "What do I do?" She questioned, nearly demanded, and if he took note of her sudden acceptance of the '_certain powers_' he had apparently bequeathed upon her, he did not mention it just then.

"Any wish you make, I am bound to grant." He said quite clearly, unwittingly revealing the true extent of his gift. _Bound_. The Goblin King was _bound _to measly, mortal Sarah Williams and her whimsical wants and wishes. The magnitude of this revelation was not lost upon her.

"But you need to choose the right words, Sarah. Make your wish very, very carefully." He warned her, speaking again before her mind could wrap itself around this recent discovery of hers.

She chanced a look into his eyes for a brief moment before her gaze rested on her brother's pinched face, his uneven breaths, his pale cheeks, and she knew, in that moment, what to wish for. The right words. Her right words. She could only hope she would do right by her brother.

"I'm ready." She announced in an even voice which projected more strength and confidence than she felt in that moment and sought out Jareth's eyes. The crystal she had seen him conjure a short while ago was brought forward and presented to her in an alluring manner entirely too familiar to her and she fought her instincts to shrink away in trepidation.

"I can give you your dreams." Jareth offered softly, almost wistfully, a slight grin tugging at one corner of his lips. She found herself returning the gesture with a small smile. It was as if nothing had changed and yet everything was different. So many years apart and so little had changed. _Sometimes the way forward is the way back_. She certainly hoped there would be a way forward after this. Bracing herself with a deep, hopefully subtle intake of breath, Sarah reached for the crystal with a trembling hand and Jareth relinquished his hold on her other hand to steady this one.

"Everything will be alright, Sarah. I promise." He reassured her and just like that, her hand was upon the crystal that still rested on his palm. He gave her an encouraging nod and she found herself speaking the words she desperately hoped were right.

"I wish for Toby to be fully recovered." She watched as the previously cloudy and hazy surface of the crystal seemed to light up, brighter and brighter until it drowned out the soft moonlight and illuminated the room in a glow entirely of its own making. A glow of magic and power and hopefully, indicative of a miracle.

"Very specific, dearest," Jareth murmured in appreciation as he guided their hands and the crystal closer to her brother before bringing his free hand over to gently remove Sarah's from the orb. She watched, wide-eyed and speechless, as he too released his hold on the crystal, leaving it to hover above Toby's forehead. Slowly, steadily, the round crystal began to reshape itself, forming a growing beam of light that hovered three inches above Toby's skin and covered his entire body.

And then it bridged the small gap and seemed to sink into her brother's stretched out frame, from the very first strand of golden hair to the very tip of his slightly curled toes, the bright glow lighting up the boy from the inside for all of three seconds before it slowly faded, as if absorbed, leaving the room illuminated by no more than the pale moonlight that shone weakly in comparison.

No more than five minutes later, Sarah flung open the door and discovered her father and Karen slumped against the wall just outside of the room, her father's legs stretched out across the wide hall while Karen's were bent at the knee and pulled close to her chest.

"He's awake," She announced breathlessly. "And he's fine. Well, close to it. And he will be perfectly fine, soon." The couple rose to their feet, Karen's red, puffy eyes regarding her with a mother's irrational hope while her father pinned his usual empty gaze on her, too afraid to feel or believe or hope.

"It's true. You can't ever ask me how, please don't, but I swear it's true."

With a broken cry, Karen flung herself out of her husband's arms and into the room, leaving her and her father standing awkwardly in the hall.

"Robert!" Karen called for her husband not ten seconds later. "Oh, Robert, he's alright!" Sarah watched as the slightest sliver of hope seeped into her father's blank eyes and she held out an encouraging hand, wordlessly asking him for his faith in her. He reached out and she guided him in to the now-bright room, lit by the lights Karen must have switched on upon her entry. One glimpse of his son's rosy cheeks and pink lips was all it took for her father to drop her hand and rush to his wife's side, both of them murmuring fervent prayers of thanks under their breaths as they took in the sight of their sleeping, healing son.

Sarah watched from the open door, giving the little family some time to themselves. She was used to standing on the outskirts, watching the trio silently.

But this time she wasn't alone.

Jareth stood by her side and after a moment's hesitation, she laced her fingers with his. "Thank you." She said fiercely, strongly, more fervently than any prayer her stepmother would ever utter, taking Jareth aback.

He regained his bearings a short moment later and gripped the small hand in his own just a little more tightly in response. Sarah leaned back and rested her weary head against his chest and they stood there, silently observing the little family until all three were dozing, Toby and Karen in the spacious bed and her father in the chair Sarah had pulled up to Toby's bedside as she'd kept vigil over him just an hour ago.

When Toby started snoring lightly the way he usually did and hadn't for the past week, Sarah choked on a sob as she let out a small laugh and the Goblin King watched her with a peculiarly tender feeling in his chest and a soft gaze that escaped her observation, thankfully. He'd revealed enough for tonight, and now endless days and weeks of conversations and revelations stretched out ahead of them. All would be explained in due time.

For now, he merely raised his free hand to brush aside a lock of hair that had escaped the haphazard twist she had pulled her hair into and tucked it behind one ear, drawing curious green eyes to his own.

"It seems, Sarah-mine, that you and I are constantly keeping the young boy safe." Sarah scoffed softly even as her eyes remained warm and open and she tugged on their joined hands to lead him away from her sleeping family.

"You, keeping Toby safe? Last I checked, Goblin King, you were counting down the minutes until you could turn him into a goblin while I ran your impossible maze for his safety." Her words could have been sharp, biting, bitter but to his surprise, they seemed to hold a teasing note. Her eyes remained friendly and his seemed to come to life as they bantered back and forth.

"Might I remind you, precious, of _your _part in the whole mess? And who ever told you he was to be turned into a _goblin _of all things?"

"_Of all things_?" Sarah quoted with a raised right brow. "Really, Jareth? Coming from the King of goblins himself?"

"That doesn't mean I'd like _more _of those creatures!" Jareth snapped and it sounded as close to a cry of exasperation as he might ever get even as his heart warmed at the very sound of her uttering his name so freely and casually, almost as if it required no thought on her part to address the Goblin King in such a friendly, almost intimate manner.

She laughed as they walked down the stairs, her hand still firmly in his grip as she guided him, and Jareth thought it was a wonderful, fitting sound to usher in the beginning of their new chapter.

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**END OF PART I**

* * *

**Well, there's that. I hope they weren't terribly OOC. I did make an effort to include very subtle hints of trepidation on Sarah's part, but the poor girl **_**was **_**in a horrible situation on no sleep and much angst, so I don't think she would have been too hesitant. And she's had nine years to re-evaluate Jareth and the whole experience, so I think she was probably ready to change her mind about him before this. And now that he's saved her little brother, Sarah's pretty much ready to start over.**

**And Jareth? Let's just say that after nine years, he's learned not to hold her fifteen-year-old self's rejection against Sarah. Plus he's spent every waking moment since Toby's accident watching Sarah trying to hold it together and hoping that she'd be willing to call on him for help.**

**Let's just pretend they're both nice, sensible people in this story, yeah?**

**So I think that ties up all loose ends and allows them to leave the past in the past. Are you guys alright with this? Can we pretend this is an ideal world and just move on? Can we bring on the fluff now? Reviews with a resounding **_**yes**_** would be most appreciated. **

_**E Salvatore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


	4. Part II: Chapter I

**PART II**

_**Chapter I**_

* * *

Soft strains of music greeted him as soon as he appeared in the living room, a slow, soothing melody so unlike the loud beats he had been subjected to during his last few visits Aboveground. But nothing, he had come to realize, was quite the same in the Aboveground when Sarah was involved.

"Jareth?" She called, her voice floating towards him from the kitchen. It had been a month since the night she had first spoken his name and welcomed him back into her life but he was convinced he would never tire of hearing his name fall from her lips so easily. He made his way to her, careful to announce his presence as he neared. The song she'd been playing on the radio she kept in the kitchen had ended and she had turned off the device upon the first sign of his arrival – she didn't know how it felt to other people when Jareth popped up but she could always feel the slightest remnants of magic in the air. A change in the atmosphere, a charged current... things just felt different when he was around.

"Hello, dearest." He smiled before taking in the riot of flour, utensils and used pans that littered her kitchen. A heap of blackened _something_ peeked out of her trashcan and his nose picked up on the very faint, lingering smell of something burnt. That explained the open windows, at least. "Have I come at a bad time?"

"Hmm?" She questioned distractedly as she wiped her hands on a dishtowel before turning around to face her guest. "Oh, no. I was just… baking. Or trying to." She gestured vaguely towards the mess with a sheepish grin on her lips that quickly turned into a genuine smile. "Hi."

"Your persistence in mastering this… art of baking, as you call it, is certainly admirable." He spoke teasingly as he closed the distance between them to stand next to her.

"Hey," Sarah bumped his arm with her shoulder playfully before returning to her clean-up duties. "I'd like to see you figure this out, Goblin King."

He spotted a loose sheet of paper abandoned on one of the few dry surfaces left on the kitchen counter and picked it up, instantly recognizing Sarah's thin, flowing handwriting.

"Well, if it's a matter of following instructions," he waved the recipe in her direction as she shot him a quick glance. "I'm quite sure we'll have this figured out in no time."

"Right," Sarah scoffed as amusement colored her voice. "Because you're so good at taking orders."

Jareth ignored her lighthearted jibe and proceeded to study the handwritten instructions for some manner of dessert, frowning as he reached the end of the page before he turned it around to find even more steps. "_Why_ is this so complicated and what in the world is an upside down cake?"

Sarah laughed at the sight of a serious Goblin King studying her hastily scrawled note with furrowed brows as she wiped down the counter. When she reached him, she softly pushed Jareth out of the way and quickly finished up, eliminating the last traces of the troublesome flour that had promptly coated a good half of her working space when she'd made the mistake of sneezing with a cupful of the baking ingredient in her shaking hand.

"Toby heard about it somewhere and thought it sounded cool, so he called me up and asked if I could get him some." She told him by means of explanation; no need to let him know that she had no idea whatsoever either. She hadn't actually bothered to do her research before rushing off to get a recipe for Toby. He was still on bed rest and so very bored, and she was determined to do whatever it took to cheer her little brother up.

"How _is_ young Toby?" Jareth inquired, dropping the forgotten recipe back on the counter as he watched Sarah pull out two mugs and prepare some coffee for them, wordlessly dumping in two heaping teaspoons of sugar into the mug he figured would be his; she was well aware of his sweet tooth by now. She spoke as she pressed the warm drink into his hands – ungloved, as they usually were when he planned to spend a good few hours here – and led him back into the living room.

"He's good. Almost everything is pretty much fine now but he's still a little weak so Karen is keeping him in bed. I think his entire system is probably out of whack after all of those drastic changes." Drastic changes. That was putting it lightly. Her brother's organs had been giving out one minute and then perfectly fine the next. Superficial injuries like the cuts and bruises he had sustained had taken their own sweet time to fade and his bones had taken a few days to mend, just long enough not to arouse too much suspicion in his parents' minds. While confused and a little suspicious, both were too relieved and grateful for Toby's miraculous recovery to press Sarah for answers she had calmly told them she would not be able to give them. It had taken some persuasion but eventually Sarah had managed to convince both her father and Karen that the best course of action would be to keep things to themselves, lest Toby be turned into a major headline or a test subject. His follow-up appointments were carried out in a town an hour's drive away, by a doctor who believed his injuries to be weeks, if not months, older than they were.

A somewhat awkward lapse into silence followed as Jareth noticed Sarah's distracted eyes and cast about for a way to bring her back to the present. Colorful illustrations caught his eye and he moved to pick one up from the coffee table, holding it gingerly between two fingers so as to avoid smudging the colors.

"Working on something?" He asked softly, guiding Sarah away from her thoughts. Her eyes seemed to snap into awareness as she assessed the sheet her companion held up for her to see.

"Oh, yeah." She reached for the paper, a frown marring her face as she lightly traced glaring imperfections with a hovering finger. "I'm working on another book but I just can't get the Fiery gang right."

Jareth had been taken aback and pleasantly surprised to discover just what it was Sarah did for a living these days. It had all started when Toby was two, she'd told him, and had grown bored of every single nursery rhyme and age-appropriate storybook Karen could find. Frustrated and at her wit's end, she had pleaded with Sarah to make use of her whimsical imagination and _please, please just tell him a story_. So Sarah had bounced her little brother on her knee and told him tales of the valiant Sir Didymus and his noble steed, Ambrosious, as they guarded their kingdom from dangers untold and hardships unnumbered. She'd tucked Toby into bed and warned him of the evil fairies, who were really nothing at all like what the fairytales made them out to be, then comforted her brother with the introduction of Hoggle, a guardian against such creatures. She'd brought him to the park and as they watched others throw stones into the pond with practiced hand movements, she'd described a loveable, oversized teddy bear of sorts (understandably hesitant to describe her Yeti-like friend to her baby brother, Sarah had claimed artistic license) who called himself Ludo and had rocks for friends. Over time, she had added goblins and talking hats to her stories and when her brother started demanding descriptions, she had simply resorted to committing the images seared into her mind's eye to pen and paper. A somewhat chronological series of events were compiled and printed neatly into a notebook upon her departure for college, with painstakingly hand-drawn illustrations breaking the monotony of words every two pages or so. Toby kept the book by his side the entire time his sister was away, even bringing it along with him to school and play dates. A friend's mother happened to work for a children's publishing house and had been taken by the colorful characters from Sarah's adventure and the rest, as they said, was history.

Two weeks before Toby's accident, Sarah had put together a new volume which featured the Fiery gang for the very first time. It had taken her some time and a lot of thought to put a child-friendly spin on the laidback creatures who'd asked for her head, and now she was discovering that wasn't even the hardest part. Getting the loose-limbed creatures just right on paper seemed to be downright impossible. Granted, her memory of that particular event was just the slightest bit out of focus thanks to the panic and fear she'd experienced and her recollection of the musically-inclined group wasn't as clear and detailed as the rest of her mental images.

"Let's have a look, shall we?" Jareth offered, moving to sit down beside her as he placed his mug next to hers on the table. His legging-clad thigh seemed to brush up against hers as he made himself comfortable and strands of his hair tickled her cheek when he leaned in for a closer look.

_Don't look up, don't look up, don't look up_.

If she did, Sarah knew she would find herself in very, very close proximity to the King. His breath tickled the top of her head and she struggled to keep her own inhales and exhales even. A month into their renewed acquaintance and already she had gone through a wide array of emotions before landing on her current mixed bag of gratitude, a (growing) smidgen of affection and very mild attraction. Well, it wasn't really mild if just sitting next to him had blood rushing to her cheeks, was it?

"So," She spoke after a much-needed moment to get herself under control and her voice casual. "What do you think?" She could almost feel the heat of Jareth's gaze as his eyes flitted from the drawing to her before settling back on the illustration.

"You've done a wonderful job with the colors, precious, but perhaps some more detailing? I seem to recall wild tufts of fur, at the very least." His tone was kind and helpful as he pointed out the missing element and Sarah could have slapped her palm to her forehead once she noticed how _obvious _it was.

In fact, she did. "Of course! I'd forgotten all about that," She muttered, a tiny bit embarrassed as she reached for a fresh sheet of paper.

"Not that much of an oversight," Jareth offered comfortingly. "Considering that you were probably blinded by all of the red and orange in sight."

Sarah hummed, whether in agreement or as a polite reply he could not tell, and started to work on a renewed sketch of the creatures. She doodled over a good two-thirds of the page as Jareth watched in silence before she groaned in frustration and crossed out her latest piece.

"I just can't get it _right_," She huffed, setting the paper down on her lap as she retrieved her mug. Jareth waited for her to take a sip of coffee before he reached for the paper and turned it around so that he could work on the blank side and Sarah watched, wide-eyed, as his Labyrinthian creatures took shape on the page.

"You can _draw_?" She gaped as he added the detailing she hadn't been able to get down, finally completing the illustration.

"Not really," The Goblin King shrugged as he handed the now-complete drawing back to her. She quickly set aside her drink in favor of studying his work.

"Then explain this." Sarah demanded, not unkindly, and Jareth smiled, amused.

"I can _mimic_, Sarah, not draw. I studied your technique and merely applied it to a rudimentary understanding of sketching." He explained patiently as she added the sketch to a neat pile on one side of the table. She would start work on the polished versions tomorrow and have them out to her agent by the end of the week.

"Call it what you want, Jareth," She shrugged, picking up the remote before leaning back into the couch and surprisingly, Jareth's arm. He must've been in the midst of stretching and she stilled for a moment, frozen as she waited for him to steer them out of this situation. His arm dropped lower and curled around her waist and it came as a surprise to both of them when Sarah relaxed into his touch and turned on the TV.

His hand was warm even when pressed against a layer of cotton and she could feel the slight current of power that seemed to radiate from his very being make her skin tingle, but she had grown quite used to the feeling in recent weeks and did not jump or cry out in shock.

"How long are you staying?" She asked softly, keeping her eyes affixed to the screen as she searched for something they could both enjoy.

"As long as you want me to." Jareth said and she nodded minutely, fully aware of how she was pressed against him with his chin just above her head.

They stayed that way for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening.

* * *

**So the original plan was for this story to have two parts, the second of which would have included an eleven-month time jump, a party and much shipper fluff. Then the realist in me said 'you can't jump from A to Z!' and the fangirl in me said 'think of all the friendship/relationship building scenes you'll get to write!' and so here we have a completely different second part from the one I'd planned and already written two chapters for. Those will now be included in the **_**third **_**part. This is rapidly snowballing out of control. Please send help.**

**Anywho. Here, enjoy a second part of the story comprised of three or four snippets of Jareth and Sarah being friends and a little more. It's mostly just to ease you guys into the upcoming shipper explosion of fluff. Yes, this means I've delayed the romance. You can threaten me with the Bog in your reviews, you wonderful readers. Thanks to all who **_**have **_**reviewed, by the way – I'm feeling quite welcomed.**

_**E Salvtore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


	5. Part II: Chapter II

**PART II**

_**Chapter II**_

* * *

The Goblin King appeared in Sarah's apartment exhausted and ready to collapse yet determined to at least check on her and hold a decent conversation for five minutes before returning to his castle to sleep away the day.

Three days. Three days of endless negotiations, protests and dozens of veiled threats of an uprising before he had put an end to the nobles' idea of subtle blackmail by reminding them that _he _was the one in charge of Belief and Dreams, channeling all of his power into keeping the Underground alive. They'd quickly bid a hasty retreat and gone back to their respective lands after his friendly reminder but the damage had been done. (Well, _most _of them had gone home. What kind of King would he be perceived as if he allowed even the most confrontational and openly traitorous of subjects roam free, undisciplined?)

The goblins had been left unsupervised for a good part of those three days and naturally, the Castle had reverted to its default 'Kingy-too-busy' state, with drunken goblins roaming the walls of his many hallways and vicious, competitive chickens fighting each other while their owners proceeded to pass out in his throne room. The last time things had been this bad was when he'd been too distracted by monitoring Sarah's progress to throw out the chickens and lock up the brewery.

And so instead of catching up on his sleep last night and coming over to see Sarah bright and early this morning, he had spent all of his time putting things back into order, figuring out which goblins were Castle residents and which were visitors, personally securing all of the alcohol which he then locked into a vault and supervising the goblins as they cleaned up their mess. The last of the black chickens had been herded back into the farmhouse in the Goblin City just an hour ago and Jareth had been terribly tempted to fall face-first into his bed and remain there for at least two days. Only the thought of Sarah and the need to check on her and wish her good luck for the evening had driven him to make the trip Aboveground.

The familiar sight of Sarah's living room – brightly painted walls of light cream that bordered on white, covered mostly by her own illustrations, a good half of which were hidden from view by towering bookshelves with all kinds of worn paperbacks and magazines neatly ordered – was unexpectedly comforting, and he sighed as he dropped down on her couch, careful to keep his boot-clad feet on the ground. He intended to close his eyes for a brief moment, just a minute, before calling out for Sarah – if she didn't manage to discover him before then – but the harsh glare of the noon sun filtered in through the thin, flimsy curtains Sarah had purchased a few weeks ago and irritated his tired eyes.

It was then that his weary mind caught up to the fact that it was quite late in the morning and the apartment was unusually silent. Sarah was by no means a morning person and preferred to spend the first half of her day lounging about, usually with the television or the radio playing something as background noise while she made breakfast or flipped idly through the newspaper.

Curious and just the slightest bit concerned, Jareth shot to his feet and quickly made his way around the apartment. The kitchen was just as empty as the living room, and the bathroom door was slightly ajar, which usually meant it was empty. The door to the guest room stood wide open and revealed no young brunette, which left her study and her bedroom. Sarah's study really wasn't so much that as it was a workspace where most of her art was done and he had been in the room a few times, mostly watching her as she painted. It was oddly intimate, and personal to Sarah, he could tell, and so he had promised himself (well, really, it was more of a promise to Sarah, just one she wasn't aware of) that he would not enter without her permission.

And so he turned his attention to her bedroom door and cautiously approached the wooden frame. Sarah hadn't bothered to actually shut the door and a narrow opening allowed him to peek in and find, to his utter amazement, a sleeping Sarah. A sleeping Sarah at – his eyes flitted to the alarm clock next to her bed which displayed the time in bright red numbers before landing on her resting form once more – eleven thirty-seven in the morning.

Content to find her safely in bed, though curious and the slightest bit disappointed to have caught her at such a bad time, Jareth resigned himself to leaving the sleeping brunette alone and returning to the Underground. He would see her tomorrow, and ask her how things had turned out at the gallery then.

Just as he closed his eyes to concentrate on his magic, Sarah's eyelids fluttered heavily before revealing tired green eyes. "Jareth?" She called in a slightly raspy voice. She must've felt the lingering magic from his trip. Sarah's awareness of magic was most peculiar but Jareth had thought that given time and consistent exposure, it would fade away. She had only grown more sensitive.

"Sarah," He pushed aside the door to fully reveal her bedroom and hesitantly stepped inside, coming to a stop by her side. "I thought I'd drop by to wish you good luck for this evening but I've obviously come at a bad time." He gestured toward her stretched out form, still tangled in sheets.

"No, no," Sarah protested weakly, struggling to keep her eyes open. "It's just that," A hand clapped over her mouth as a yawn overtook her. "I didn't get to sleep until the sun came up."

Jareth _tsk_-ed disapprovingly and reached out to brush aside the wild curls that threatened to hide her eyes from him. "Now why would you do such a thing, dearest?"

Eyes drifting shut of their own accord, Sarah leaned into his touch as Jareth's hand moved to cup her cheek and emitted a contented sigh, seemingly too far gone to care that she wasn't usually so receptive and encouraging of physical contact between them. Jareth waited patiently until her eyes opened again and was taken aback when she raised a hand of her own to lightly trace over the dark circles he knew were present under his eyes.

"I'm not the only one who hasn't been sleeping well," She murmured, green eyes concerned even through the haze of exhaustion that threatened to cloud her mind.

"It comes with the title," Jareth joked weakly, trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy while Sarah's tender eyes and careful touch shook his composure.

Sarah tried valiantly to fight back another yawn but lost the battle as the hand she'd rested her head on moved to her mouth. "I'm sorry," She smiled weakly. "But this just isn't working."

"You need your rest, Sarah." Jareth said and watched as Sarah rolled over, putting a little more distance between them as she removed her hand from his face and patted the empty space next to her.

"So do you, mighty Goblin King." She teased and waited for him to join her. Maybe it wasn't the best idea, but she was really beyond rational thought by now, having stayed up till well past dawn working on a last-minute piece for her showing tonight. It wasn't anything new - she had these showings every few months, just to do something with the darker and more realistic paintings she sometimes did of the Labyrinth - but this was the first time she had been inspired enough to stay up all night and work on a piece, determined to have it finished and displayed at the showing. And she knew that if she let Jareth leave now, he'd probably go home and crash until tomorrow and then she wouldn't be able to ask him about that thing she'd been wanting to ask him about.

Sarah frowned. That didn't really make much sense, she realized. Also, Jareth was still standing next to the bed.

"Well?"

"Precious, I don't think-" She rolled her eyes, huffed and with Herculean effort, managed to pull herself upright and snatch the Goblin King's hand in her own.

"I'm exhausted, you're exhausted and I want to talk to you sometime before tomorrow, so you can't go back. But that's okay because _I _happen to have a bed, too, and lots of space so just get in, and we can talk about this when my head doesn't hurt so much." She tugged on his hand impatiently and sighed heavily. "Just get in bed, Jareth." Words he had never expected to hear from her and words that, coupled with his extreme exhaustion, the past seventy-two hours and the prospect of being so close to Sarah, finally did the trick.

He had just enough foresight left to dispose of his boots with a wave of his hands before allowing Sarah to pull him down.

Oh, and to replace the curtains with thick drapes when Sarah muttered, from her position just inches away from him with her hand still loosely gripping his, "and for God's sake, _turn off the lights_."

Which is why, when Sarah woke, her first thought was to question her recently-acquired curtains. Her second was to freak out about the presence of a very real, very unconscious Goblin King sleeping next to her, in her bed. And her third line of coherent thought went along the lines of _think, Sarah, think_.

Her memory came back to her in blurry bits and hazy pieces before she finally managed to recall her conversation with Jareth, one that had ended with her pulling him into bed. Apparently her tired mind had decided that it would be better to take no chances and keep him with her rather than just call for him after she woke up to ask him about this evening.

If he'd left and fallen asleep back home though, he'd probably have slept through her summons and the evening.

And she wouldn't have known what it's like to wake up next to sleeping Jareth, so different from the vibrant, charismatic presence he usually was when awake. Sleeping Jareth was less of a demanding presence, a softly muted light that drew you to him with offers of comfort and warmth, warmth she could feel on the exposed skin of her hip where one ungloved hand rested, fingers lightly curled into her skin but not uncomfortably so. She resisted the mysterious urge to smile and focused on studying him instead. He was beautiful even in sleep, that was undeniable. Softer, as all sleeping people are in comparison to their waking selves. Not completely innocent and unburdened – subtle lines of stress from carrying the burden of an entire realm on his shoulders lingered, adding character to his already unique appearance. He looked pale in his sleep, vulnerable in a way she had never seen him, and the dark bags that she had noticed even in her state of being half-asleep stood in stark contrast to his skin. Sarah wondered if she was brave enough to raise a hand and trace his features the way her sleep-addled mind had driven her to do earlier.

Jareth saved her from testing her limits when his eyelids slowly but surely – there was no fluttering of lashes, not here – opened and revealed eyes she would recognize as his even amongst hundreds of similarly-colored pairs. Not that she had ever seen eyes like Jareth's on any other being. One beautifully colored blue eye and another that topped it with a unique pupil and a slightly darker shade that lent his eye a jewel-like quality. She'd wondered if maybe it was a Fae trait but found that she could not, for the life of her, picture any other living being with _his _eyes.

"I'd say good morning," Jareth spoke after a moment of silence used to study her eyes as thoroughly as she had studied his. Some part of her was inexplicably pleased and decidedly fluttery and warm to discover for herself that Jareth, fresh from a nap, spoke in a slightly hoarse voice, just a touch deeper than his usual conversational tone and just that much more toe-curling. "But that wouldn't be entirely fitting, would it now?" A lazy grin tugged at his lips, more subtle than his usual grins and smirks but also more personal and precious to Sarah. It coaxed a similar smile out of her as she pulled herself upright to lean against the headboard and glance at her alarm clock.

"Good afternoon would work just fine," She offered, her smile growing a little brighter as she noticed Jareth's reluctance to move. He remained on his back, eyes closed once more even as he spoke.

"Good afternoon, then, Sarah dearest, and won't you come back here and allow me to sleep until tomorrow?" Sarah's eyes brightened in amusement and she fought to maintain an even, almost bored tone.

"Oh, if you insist. But then we'll miss my showing and I was really looking forward to having you there."

Jareth's eyes shot open as he turned on his side to face her. "I assume that's what you were so anxious to talk to me about, then." He said almost casually, and if not for the smile that tugged at his lips, Sarah might've fallen for his act and backed off.

As it was, four months had afforded her a lot of time to study Jareth and all of the little things she'd come to associate with him, and she knew that this act of studied casualness was a default setting he reverted to when hesitant, unsure or loathe to show his genuine emotions. He'd been getting better at that last one, though, and she took much pleasure in his sincere smiles and genuine laughs.

"There's something I'd like to show you… so what do you say, Goblin King? Could you possibly break free from your royal duties for an evening and be my date?" Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best way to phrase it. Even Jareth, confused by the Internet and modern-day fashion trends, was well aware of how dates worked… and all of the implications the word carried with it.

Fortunately, he'd turned back into his charming, flirty self to spare both of them the awkward, stilted conversation that might've followed had he chosen to delve into the new bag of possibilities Sarah's offer had just opened up.

"Now, who would be able to turn down such an offer by a beautiful woman while in her bed?" He smirked and the way he said _in her bed_ made it sound as if they'd done much more than share an afternoon nap.

She rolled her eyes and got out of bed amidst Jareth's half-hearted, entertaining protests, telling him it was much later in the afternoon than he might've thought and evening was upon them, so he'd best get up and get ready. As she disappeared into the bathroom, a genuine smile played on her lips and brightened her eyes as she imagined his reaction to the piece she'd stayed up all night working on, the one that was now hidden in her art room beneath a blank sheet of fabric.

It was the first time she'd ever painted the Goblin King… and herself.

And so surprised and delighted was he, later in the evening, that Jareth didn't even tease her about it as he studied their silhouettes, backs turned to the observing public as they stood on a balcony overlooking the entire Labyrinth in all of its glory.

Funny that _she _was the one who'd ended up painting _him _a morning of gold.

* * *

**Okay, show of hands: how many of you would actually pitch a fit if you woke up to find an exhausted, weak Goblin King in your bed… after extending him an invitation while (more than) half-asleep? I thought so too.**

**Sorry for the delayed update; I had a hard time logging in to the site for some reason. Does joining the fandom come with its own welcoming committee of prankster goblins?**

**Thank you all so very much for the kind feedback. Even though I struggled with my decision to extend the story and very nearly put up the pre-written and edited version of what will now be Chapter I of Part III yesterday, your reviews make me very, very glad that I decided not to be a lazy ass and went with some character building instead. As far as I can tell, at this point there'll be one more chapter for this part, then three chapters for the next, which makes nine chapters in all and a possible epilogue. Unless the plot bunnies choose to hijack this once more, of course. I'm quite sure they must've watered their latest harvest of carrots with steroids or something similar.**

_**E Salvatore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


	6. Part II: Chapter III

**PART II**

_**Chapter III**_

* * *

It had been storming, non-stop, for the last thirteen – yes, thirteen – hours and Sarah was convinced that she had been _thisclose _to simply hitting her head against the wall repetitively when the familiar tug pulled at her heart.

Okay, so it even _sounded _ridiculous. But that was the truth, the God-awful, embarrassing, lovesick truth it had taken her a good, long eight months to come to terms with: when Jareth popped into existence the way he did at least once a day, it wasn't lingering magic she felt or even a change in the air. It was a literal tug at her heart, quickly followed by this odd tingle that started from the very top of her head and moved all the way down to the tip of her toes in mere seconds, dulling any physical discomfort and negative emotions she might have been dealing with before the Goblin King had appeared and turned her entire day around simply with his presence.

Was it any wonder that even now, she still lied to Jareth and described it as a mere shift in the atmosphere, the way it had started out as? If he ever learned the truth… Sarah wasn't nearly as blind and clueless as she made herself out to be when it came to Jareth. He was always by her side, coaxing smiles from her on her good days and simply holding her for hours on her bad days. He made an effort to get along with her family and friends and genuinely adored Toby. He held her hand most of the days they spent out and about, and kept her close to him with an arm wound around her back and waist on the rest. They'd spent rainy days curled up on her old couch watching movies and the first time she'd woken up next to him after an innocent nap four months ago hadn't been the last.

Sarah knew that if Jareth were to ever find out that even her _body _craved him, there would be no more pretending, no more 'best friends', no more avoiding the shared looks and lingering touches and that one time he'd kissed her on her birthday – the first time she'd introduced him to her friends had been on her birthday nearly three months ago, when they'd met up at a bar they frequented every other week. She had rattled off names and details on their way to the bar, and had warned him of a particularly persistent bartender as he'd helped her out of the car. A bartender who'd happened to be lingering in the background when she'd walked in with Jareth, who had promptly introduced himself as her boyfriend. The bartender got the hint and left them alone; her friends teased them all evening and started a juvenile chant after she'd blown out the candles on her cake, demanding that Jareth kiss her. He had. She'd kissed him back. Then he'd been called away to deal with a wisher and the next time he'd popped into her living room, she'd distracted him with her work and neither had brought it up since.

She knew how he felt about her and had a pretty good idea of how she felt about him, but Sarah simply wasn't ready for whatever it was being with Jareth would be like. Being his friend was enough to drive her crazy and leave her wanting, _needing, _more of him, each passing day. She'd probably make the books for the first recorded case of spontaneous combustion if they ever got together. And then there was the small matter of him being the Goblin King and the responsibilities he shouldered. Jareth abhorred having to carry out his duties, she'd learned, but he was bound to his title, a title he had been _born _into. She knew now that he did not take away children for sport nor turn them into goblins (not all of them, anyway) and neither did he actually put his runners in danger. The Labyrinth did that all on its own.

_("So what the hell was with your little reordering time stint, then? And the Bog? _And _the goblin army?"_

"_Honestly, precious, the first one you provoked me into, the second was actually a favor – you _know_ it brought you closer to the center, don't deny it – and the third, well, the goblins were dreadfully bored.")_

But still – she simply wasn't ready. As childish and naïve as it sounded, Sarah was waiting for the right moment, and she knew it was just around the corner. The right moment when everything would fall into place and all that would matter was the fact that she could not, _would _not, live without this man by her side for the rest of eternity. That was what she needed – that one final push - and she was patient (and just a little nervous) enough to wait. So when Jareth appeared in her apartment in the middle of a storm and she jumped in shock, she had a practiced lie at the ready when he questioned her.

"Is everything alright, dearest?" He asked in lieu of a greeting, taken aback by her jumpiness. Sarah was rarely jumpy, especially around him… these days, at least.

"Yeah, just the usual feeling." She smiled brightly and it wasn't even a lie, she told herself. Jareth just didn't know what _the usual feeling _was. He nodded, seemingly content with her answer, and dropped down onto the welcoming surface of the couch, promptly sprawling out all over it, his lithe form occupying the entirety of the only chair in her living room. Well, there was the armchair over in the corner near her bookshelves and the window but it wasn't anywhere near the TV, and she'd only just popped in _Breakfast at Tiffany's_ to pass the time.

"Scoot over," She ordered and Jareth promptly burrowed deeper into the couch, leaving just enough space for her to crawl in and _not _fall off so long as he kept an arm around her. Sarah hit play on the VCR player and walked around the coffee table just as Jareth reached out an inviting hand that quickly curled around her waist once she settled in.

"And what delightful little distraction have you prepared for us today, precious?" His breath tickled her ear and the way his voice rumbled in his chest sent delightful little shockwaves to her back, pressed flush against him. Sarah kept her eyes on the screen, prepared to pay full attention to the familiar scenes she could practically run through in her mind by now.

"Girl meets boy, boy falls for clueless girl as she dreams of financial security, things happen, girl almost leaves but then returns in dramatic last scene complete with pouring rain." She summarized not-quite-accurately, her last words punctuated by the heavy downpour that pounded against her windows.

"Charming," Jareth quipped with a hint of laughter in his voice and they settled in to watch Audrey Hepburn eat a croissant while admiring display windows, scored beautifully to the opening strains of _Moon River._

Rain continued to pour in thickening sheets as Sarah lost herself in the familiar movie, abandoning the plot every so often when Jareth made even the slightest of moves. For his part, Jareth was quite well-behaved, keeping most of his comments to himself, asking a few interested questions here and there and only playing with her hair for about half of the movie. He curled a lock around his finger as Sarah pointed out how impossible the crazy party in Holly's apartment would have been in real life and he recounted tales of crazier, more seemingly impossible parties the goblins had thrown. He swept all of her hair back to reveal the pale column of her neck as Audrey Hepburn strummed and sang her heart out, catching snippets of a familiar melody Sarah sometimes hummed while cooking or painting. When one sleeve of her oversized shirt slipped off a shoulder as she shifted against him, citing a sudden case of pins-and-needles, he began to doodle almost absent-mindedly on the newly-revealed skin.

Sarah had watched the movie countless times, experienced it on her own and with Karen and a group of friends, in varying states of mind and emotional well-being, but watching Holly and Paul prance about New York while Jareth's hair tickled her bare shoulder and his arm held her close was an entirely new experience, in a league of its own. By the time they'd reached the last fifteen minutes of the movie, Sarah had let herself be lulled to sleep by the steady rhythm of Jareth's breathing and the soothing sensation of his fingers lightly tracing up and down her arm.

Jareth faltered, just once, when the mortal actors fought about love in the taxi, when the man proclaimed his love and ownership of the woman and she said, in return, that _people don't belong to people _and she wasn't going to let anyone put her in a cage. And the man, Paul, said almost incredulously that he didn't want to put her in a cage, he wanted to love her.

_It's the same thing_, the young actress said and Jareth wondered if maybe Sarah felt the same way, if her fifteen-year-old self had seen his offer as a trap, a gilded cage he was prepared to lock her in the second she accepted. He looked down at her then, craning his neck to catch a glimpse of her face as it was turned away from him and found her eyes closed. A fond smile played on his lips even as his mind raced, pondering events long past and words he – and indeed, the mortal – could have used instead of the ones spoken. At least the man had said the right words. Jareth had been overly confident in his displays and young Sarah's non-existent abilities to intuit the grown-up truth she had been too young to see. He hadn't seen the need to proclaim his love in three little words to a young girl he had no intention of courting just right then. _In a few years' time_, he'd told himself, confident in his seemingly irresistible offer. In a few years' time, after Sarah had gotten to know him, to love him in return, then he would have told her. She'd turned him down instead and they had spent nine years apart and even now, he still hadn't told her point blank, in so many words, that he was in love with her.

A clap of thunder woke Sarah up just as Holly turned back and, not knowing what she'd missed, unaware of Jareth's thoughts on the cab scene, she commented almost idly to Jareth that she never did quite agree with that part, the part where Holly finally gave in and admitted to herself that she did, in fact, love Paul. They watched in silence as the onscreen couple embraced in an alley and shared their long-awaited kiss in the rain before Jareth spoke.

"Why not?" He questioned, his tone laced with curiosity and mild amusement. "The girl returns, they confess their love and they live happily ever after. Isn't that how all stories go?" She ignored the slight hint of bitterness he'd accidentally allowed into his voice and they both let the thought that _their _story hadn't gone quite like that go unspoken.

Sarah cleared her throat and stretched her sleeping limbs. "Not in the book," She answered as the credits rolled. "She left and never looked back."

"Of course there's a book." Jareth said dryly as Sarah turned around to face him. "And do you agree with _that _ending, Sarah?"

"A novella, actually. And yes," She replied, catching a quick flash of surprise in Jareth's eyes before it faded. He'd known her answer, of course, but it was still odd, she supposed, to hear that the girl who'd once loved fairytales and expected happy endings preferred such an ending to the one they'd just seen. "Because that's who Holly is. She had a plan, and yes, things were a little messed up, but she stuck with her plan and stayed true to herself, and that was that."

"And what of the poor writer boy, abandoned and forgotten?" Jareth demanded, albeit softly with no real urgency in his voice.

"He never really got over her," Sarah shrugged. "But it was for the best. I don't think she really loved him the way he did her."

"But what if she had?" Jareth pressed and Sarah wondered if this was even about Holly anymore.

"What difference would it have made? She'd already left him. Even if she realized years later, once she'd seen the real world and found that nothing would ever compare to him and the way he made her feel, that no one would ever look at her the way he had…" She made the mistake of meeting Jareth's eyes then and her throat went dry. No one had ever looked at _her _the way Jareth had - and still did - and a handful of years after their first encounter, she'd often lain awake at night, wondering if she would ever feel the heat of another pair of eyes pinned on her the way his had been as he'd serenaded her and spun her around a crystal ballroom.

She cleared her throat once more and in the sudden silence of the room, now that the screen had faded to black, it sounded harsh and awkward and painfully loud, bursting the bubble they had just been trapped in. "Even if she realized then," Sarah made herself speak clearly, evenly. But her last words were barely a whisper. "It would have been too late."

"Would it?" Jareth challenged her with his eyes and she knew then that they were definitely not talking about Holly anymore. She could get up. Stretch her arms, shuffle her feet until they woke and casually offer him a cup of tea as she walked to the kitchen.

Sarah was surprised and scared to find that she didn't want to run off into the kitchen with the flimsy excuse of making tea – she was tired of evading and escaping and avoiding. She wanted answers and Jareth seemed to be offering them and for God's sake, she was practically cuddling with the man on her tiny couch, what more did she have to lose?

"She left him alone and she's wasted so much _time_," Her voice caught on the last word, eyes still hopelessly trapped under the powerful gaze of his mismatched eyes. She felt her heart thumping painfully fast, her mind racing as she shot to her feet, flinging off his arm in the process as she scurried to the other side of the table and removed the tape. Eyes carefully averted to avoid his, she started babbling as she fumbled with the box for the movie. "And he probably hates her, and who's to say he still feels the same way and-"

"Sarah," Jareth said firmly, a sure hand clasping her shaking ones in his own. He had always been stealthy and graceful, like a predator, and her nervous rambling hadn't exactly helped her keep tabs on his movement. She felt his eyes on her, prodding her to meet his gaze and hesitated, just for a moment, focused on their joined hands before she took a deep breath and raised her eyes to his own.

They were warm and comforting and safe, the same blue eyes she had gazed into soundlessly as he blinked away sleep, the same eyes she had looked to for reassurance when in doubt, in trouble, in need of anything at all… eyes that she could drown in, eyes she had started calling home.

Jareth raised his free hand and brushed aside a few errant curls before he cupped her cheek in his warm palm. The tingle, the magic he radiated, was always so much more potent when he touched her this way and she had yet to figure out if it had something to do with her face or just the overall intimacy involved when he held her like this.

She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath until he spoke and she gasped softly, sucking in a sharp breath of air.

"He does," Jareth said, promised, _vowed_ with absolute certainty in his strong voice and it took her a while to even remember what they were talking about.

… _and who's to say he still feels the same way and-_

"And he always will." He said softly, conviction firm in his voice even as it dropped into a private whisper from the strong, clear tone it had been. Jareth leaned in and his forehead met hers, and God, this was almost better than when he had kissed her and her eyes closed of their own accord, thinking that if he'd just kiss her now, it _would _be better than that one time in a crowded bar and she would give in, right moment be damned, and his lips were so close now, so close she could feel them against hers when he murmured her name, her name and not any term of endearment she'd grown so accustomed to-

Bolts of lightning danced and illuminated the dark sky outside as a crack of thunder startled both of them and cheated them of their moment as Sarah jumped up and away, eyes wide open as she wringed her hands together.

"Umm," She gulped, hoping her voice would come out normal. "The weatherman," Her voice was breathless and her mind empty and she couldn't think, not at all, not with him still looking at her _that _way- "The weatherman said we might lose power if the storm gets worse, so I'm gonna go hunt down some candles and flashlights." She blurted in a mess of words and turned on her heel, nearly jogging into the kitchen without risking a second glance at the man who still looked at her with affection and hunger and _love _in his eyes.

Jareth blinked once, quickly restoring his usual mask into place and cast his eyes skyward, a heavy sigh falling from his lips.

Some days he was convinced he'd spent thousands of years learning the art of patience for the sole purpose of dealing with Sarah.

* * *

**END OF PART II**

* * *

**Well, well, well, what have we here? Little Sarah is all grown up and ready to face the truth. I hope none of that was too abrupt for you guys but since I **_**do **_**plan on keeping this little thing within the ten-chapter range, it was time for us to get on with the revelations, wrap this part up and ascend to the pearly, cotton candy gates of fluff heaven. Come on, shippers. Our next part starts three months later and marks **_**eleven **_**months spent together (mostly) platonically. Surely we've put them through enough?**

**Also, sorry for the movie reference – I understand that those can sometimes be alienating as not everyone has watched every single movie but in this particular instance, it just fit. I've had this scene in my mind since Day One and I just had to use it. The entire second act was building up to this. Hopefully Sarah's explanation worked for you guys as well as it did for Jareth. Further questions are always welcomed and I'll do my best to resolve any confusion.**

**As usual, thank you all for the encouraging, wonderful reviews and I'll get back to some of you personally as soon as I have some spare time online. As it is, my connection's a little spotty for some reason and the only time I'm online is when I put these chapters up. But I look forward to getting to know all of you soon.**

_**E Salvatore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


	7. Part III: Chapter I

**PART III**

_**Chapter I**_

* * *

"Sarah?"

"In here!" She called, doing up the zipper on the dress she'd quickly slipped into as the first tell-tale tingle of magic had breezed through her hair. Jareth appeared in the doorway to her bedroom, poking in his head cautiously before his eyes landed on her clothed form and he stepped in, stopping short just steps away from the bed, where she sat on the edge of the mattress as she slipped her feet into a pair of shoes.

"Hey," She smiled brightly, eyes shining as she took in his relaxed appearance. Wild hair, undone shirt that revealed the amulet glinting on his chest, tights that she was pretty sure had to be illegal _somewhere _in one of the worlds and nothing more. He was staying for the day. "I thought you weren't coming today, since your parents are visiting and all."

He held out an unnecessary hand to help her up as she rose to her feet and she placed her hand in his, comfortable with his touch after nearly a day of going without it. She dropped his hand after a moment and rummaged around the tangled sheets and discarded articles of clothing on her bed before triumphantly plucking out her bag. Jareth grinned and leaned against the wall nearest to her.

"My mother has decided to redesign the gardens and my father is currently wandering the Labyrinth." At her raised brow – he'd shared quite a few tales of his father, all mighty and powerful ruler of the Underground, High King of the realm, getting lost in the maze a fifteen-year-old had conquered – Jareth quickly elaborated. "I sent for Hogbottom this morning. He'll fetch my father before the sun sets."

"Hoggle!" Sarah rolled her eyes, a long-suffering sigh escaping smiling lips that teased. They were both privy to the fact that Jareth was well aware of his gardener's name and Sarah's half-hearted protests were always ruined by the laughter in her voice.

"Yes, yes," Jareth agreed dismissively as Sarah led him out of the room and watched, from the center of the living room, as she made her way around the apartment, turning off switches and electrical appliances as she went. Out for the day then, he deduced and met her by the front door, holding up the light spring coat she had been about to reach for, waiting for her to turn her back on him before he helped her into the outerwear. Sarah murmured her thanks as she smoothed down the skirt of her dress and he brushed back wayward strands of hair that had escaped from her ponytail, drawing her attention. "You look beautiful, precious," He smiled, gratified by the slight flush in her cheeks as she thanked him again. "Now just where are we headed to on this fine day?"

Sarah stepped out into the hallway of her apartment building and watched as Jareth transformed his appearance with a wave of his hand, stepping forth in a white shirt (top three buttons undone, as usual), dark denim and his customary boots. A slightly shorter haircut completed the Aboveground ensemble and though he looked just as he always did when they left her home, Sarah could never quite get used to the sight of him this way. At least his hair was longer this time, the ends hovering just above his shoulders. He waited patiently as she locked the door behind them, having called for the elevator, and escorted her in with a hand around her waist as she dropped her keys into her bag. She turned to him with a playful smile then and he wondered just what she was up to.

"Well, _I _was on my way to a dreadful dinner party hosted by Karen's good friend and an ex-boyfriend's mother, and since you're here for the day, you get to be my plus one and hero." She said brightly, clearly pleased by how the day was turning out. Jareth laughed, amused by the satisfied little grin Sarah wore on her glowing face as they exited the elevator and she led him to her car.

"And am I to play the charming friend or the perfectly charming boyfriend?" He teased, holding open the door to the driver's seat as he ushered Sarah in before walking around to the other side of the car and getting in.

"Walk the line, will you?" Sarah requested, eyes focused on the road as she pulled away from the curb. She shot him a pleading smile as she made a left turn and merged into the traffic. "I really need to get her – and her son – off my back but the family's going to be there, so…"

So they didn't want her family to get the wrong idea. Or in Karen's case, to get her hopes up. The woman had practically been planning her stepdaughter's wedding since the day Sarah had first brought Jareth home for dinner. It had made for an awkward first visit, to be sure, with Karen's enthusiastic gushing and Robert's wary looks. Toby had excused himself halfway through the meal and Karen had fussed over him and brought him up to his room, leaving Sarah caught in between a suspiciously polite and good-natured Jareth and her brooding father – she'd never brought a guy home before and even though she insisted that Jareth was just an old friend, her parents were understandably suspicious. At least Toby didn't have any issues with Jareth. Far from it, her brother practically _worshipped_ his big sister's oddly familiar friend, and so did his friends once they happened to meet Jareth at a barbeque the family had hosted five weeks later. Jareth's entire demeanor had brightened up when Sarah had told him, a week after the barbeque, that Toby's friends had been calling on the house quite frequently, hoping to run into 'Mister King'. (He'd gotten quite a laugh out of the last name, that was for sure.)

"Her son?" Jareth echoed once his mind picked up on the implications of Sarah's words. "Your former... boyfriend," He used the word reluctantly, having found no suitable replacement, "will be joining us?"

Sarah muttered something under her breath that sounded an awful lot like "not if he wrecks his car on the way there" and Jareth waited for more, his curiosity piqued by Sarah's hostility.

After a brief pause during which her skin prickled with awareness – Jareth's infamous heated gaze always drew the same reaction out of her – Sarah sighed heavily and gave in. "It's Jack."

Jareth's eyes flashed. "Jack Meyers, the bastard who accused you of – of-" He could barely bite off the words as his rage flared. Sarah had recounted the tale of this particular idiot just weeks ago and he'd threatened to bog the pathetic child, much to Sarah's amusement.

"Of being mentally unstable because I kept getting lost in my daydreams and told the entire school I was nuts." Sarah finished the sentence, a bitter edge to her voice. "Yeah, that one."

The Goblin King seethed in silence for a moment before getting a grip on his temperament. Sarah had convinced him that the stupid boy wasn't worth his time and she'd gotten the last laugh, anyway, now that she was making a comfortable living off her 'stupid dancing fairies' and Jack was flitting from one job to another, unable to keep his mouth shut and his ego in check long enough to hold down an occupation.

"One word from his insolent trap and I'll have him trapped in an oubliette." Jareth muttered threateningly and Sarah shook her head, amused.

"Deal." She grinned as they pulled up to a red light and she removed one hand from the wheel to grab Jareth's. He'd skipped the gloves today, not wanting to draw attention with the extra accessories on such a warm day, and she knew that he'd be keeping his hands occupied - mostly by holding hers and occasionally winding an arm around her waist - to avoid shaking anyone's hand. There were a few he'd probably have to greet, of course, like her father, but the 'oops, static' excuse was viable for a few uses, at the very least. "But until he slips up, just focus on being perfect, okay?" Her eyes danced with mirth and he smirked.

"As always, I shall live up to your impossibly high expectations of me, precious Sarah." He said in a long-suffering tone with the air of the royal leader that he was and she thought he might've thrown in a little bow if they hadn't been in a confined space. She laughed then, unfazed by the blatant reference to their final showdown during her run through his Labyrinth so many years ago - _I am exhausted from living up to your expectations - _and though he remained silent, Jareth's lips quirked with unvoiced amusement too. The rest of the drive passed by in a blur of idle banter and by the time they'd pulled up to Sarah's childhood home, both were in considerably improved spirits, with not a single thought spared for Jack. Sarah allowed Jareth to open her door and gently pull her out, and they walked hand-in-hand down the street, attracting many curious looks and not-so-hushed whispers before they came to a stop in front of the familiar yellow-trimmed house Sarah recognized from many years of delivering casseroles and baked goods on Karen's behalf.

Sarah paused on the sidewalk, bringing Jareth to a standstill as she gripped his hand in hers. Childish laughter filled the air as the neighborhood children chased each other around the yard and Sarah's heart swelled as she caught sight of a familiar face amongst the crowd of children, laughing and playing and running just like every other child.

It was the first time she'd seen Toby with bright eyes and flushed cheeks zipping around on his own two legs since the accident. Sure, he was long healed by now and had probably been up and about for months but during the routine visits she paid her brother, she'd never seen him so whole and happy and healthy. So _normal_.

"Oh, Jareth," She sighed happily as Toby disappeared from sight, chasing after a boy who held something up in the air, taunting the other children to take it from him. "He's fine. He's really fine now."

Jareth, who had been studying Toby as closely as his sister had, turned to face Sarah now, a genuine smile on his face as he took in the sheer joy on hers. He had barely started speaking when she wrenched her hand from his and threw it around his neck along with her other hand, pulling him close as she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

Sarah was just as surprised as Jareth when her lips met his – she hadn't even paused, hadn't even _thought_ anything through before she'd thrown her arms around him, so wrapped up had she been in that one perfect moment of happiness, such happiness that her first impulse had been to share it with Jareth. Jareth, the man who had turned her world upside down once before and then again when she had needed him, the man who had slowly carved out a place for himself in her life and in her heart, the man who had proved himself to be so much more than a villain and was now the sun to her previously lost and lonely existence. His hands rested on either side of her waist to hold her closer and she kissed him with all of the joy she felt in that moment, all of the contentment she felt now that everything had fallen into place and she knew this was where she belonged.

Jareth mourned the loss of her lips upon his as she pulled back minutely before he could even begin to comprehend all that she had given and told him in that one kiss, lips still so close to his own that he felt them curve against his as she smiled, hands buried in his hair as she remained pressed up against him, both of them safely ensconced in their little bubble of perfection.

"Tell me you still feel the same way," She murmured on borrowed breath, air she had stolen from him as she'd parted her lips to speak. She was not desperate and she did not beg nor did she demand - her words were a happy whisper, seeking reaffirment with a smile on her face, finally ready to hear the truth.

"Oh, precious," Jareth sighed even as his mind battled through a haze of confusion, trying to keep up with Sarah's sudden change of heart. His heart was pounding and his mind was racing but somehow, none of that mattered as the right words fell from his lips. "I never stopped."

* * *

**And here come the eggs and tomatoes.**

**Yes, I suppose that might've been a bit of a letdown. I've had them flirt, share a bed, cuddle, almost kiss in the pouring rain hot on the heels of a subtle declaration of love (well, kind of – it **_**was **_**pouring, just outside) and this is how it happens. No build-up, no preamble, no sudden internal monologue in one of their minds… just a kiss, just like that. But hear me out!**

**We all love the passionate make-outs and first kisses that have them seeing fireworks and tumbling into bed. But this is my Sarah and Jareth, and the point here is that Sarah acts as if it's the most natural thing in the world. She's happy and she wants to share that with someone and Jareth is the one she turns to, because that is who he is to her now. An important part of her life, a person she wants to share everything with, the one she turns to with all of her joys and sorrows. She doesn't think twice about kissing him because she doesn't have to. And I hope you guys can appreciate that.**

**Or, you know, just be patient until I put up the third chapter of this part which includes the whole tumbling-into-bed make-out thing I was talking about. But you guys can fill in the blanks after that – this remains rated T, people. Rant and yell in the reviews.**

_**E Salvatore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


	8. Part III: Chapter II

**PART III**

_**Chapter II**_

* * *

The third time Jareth kissed her, Sarah finally let herself go. There was no blinding revelation, no cheering friends – nothing in the world existed except for Jareth and his lips on hers, his hands on her waist, his voice as he murmured her name with upturned lips.

Until Toby's triumphant cries of "I knew it! I knew it! _Mooooom!_" burst their perfect little bubble and Sarah jumped, pulling away from Jareth just in time to catch sight of her little brother's back as he ran into the house, calling for Karen. She gaped after him, wide-eyed, until Jareth's low chuckle and his tightening grip around her waist drew her attention to him.

She could have panicked. She could have blamed it on him. She could have frozen him out.

Sarah laughed and hid her face in the hollow of his neck. "You know what this means." She stated dryly, her hands slipping around his middle to mimic the embrace Jareth held her in.

"I'm afraid, precious, that your plan has been foiled, the charade exposed." He said seriously, prompting her to pull back and look at him – really look at him, for the first time since her sudden attack on his person and his heart mere minutes ago. The firm set of his lips was serious, and so was his tone, but Jareth's bright eyes, dancing with joy, ruined the mask.

"And?" She asked with bright eyes of her own, a matching smile on her face even as she regarded him warily. Jareth grinned then, a playful show of mischief.

"I will have to play the part of your lover, of course, in front of everyone present, your family included now that young Toby has spread the scandalous news." He informed her, a shadow of lingering doubt creeping into his eyes when Sarah frowned and remained silent for a moment.

"Sarah-" He called, an anxious edge to his tone as his smile faded. Sarah's eyes snapped up and fell on his, and she smiled reassuringly as she drew one hand away from his torso and reached up to settle it on Jareth's cheek; neither missed the way he turned into her touch instinctively despite the rigid set of his shoulders as he waited for her to speak up.

"I was under the impression that it's no longer just a part." Sarah spoke softly, eyes searching his to observe his reaction. She caught fleeting glimpses of relief and happiness before he settled on cautious hope.

"What am I to think, Sarah-mine," Jareth spoke softly, the first signs of doubt and the slightest hints of fear – fear of rejection, again – present in the weary tone of his voice. "When you suddenly kiss me the minute you see your brother whole again, the day we are to stage an act? Eleven months and now you make the first move, and I never thought I would question your affection but tell me, dearest, that you did not act out of gratitude, that you're not caught up in-"

Sarah's hand slipped from the side of his face to his mouth, two fingers pressed up against his lips to silence him as the other rose up to tangle her fingers in his hair, bringing him closer to her as she spoke.

"I kissed you," She said evenly, her voice firm and convincing. "Not because you healed Toby, but because he _is _healed and I'm happy, and you're the one I want to share that with." She pinned honest green eyes on him, watching as the tension seeped out of his form. "I kissed you because you're the first person I want to see in the morning and the last one every night, and when you're not around, I wish you were, all the time." Her fingers slipped from his lips and trailed downwards, coming to settle on his chest, just above his beating heart.

"I kissed you because I wanted to, not because I'm thankful or we're selling an act, and if you could just accept that," She gave him a tentative smile, fingers still laced in his hair. "I'd like to kiss you again."

She took the crash of his lips against hers as an unspoken answer to her plea and smiled into his kiss, letting him pull her closer as her palm pressed against his heart, feeling the hummingbird _thump-thump-thump_ of it as surely as she felt the rapid beat of her own in her chest. She let herself drown in Jareth and his kiss and the warmth he radiated until she felt her chest constrict with the burning need for air, and she felt Jareth break the kiss, almost knowingly, as he released his claim on her lower lip.

She rested her head on his shoulder as she gasped for air, focused on her quest for oxygen until she felt Jareth's mouth on her neck, his lips curving into a grin.

"Don't look now, dearest, but we've drawn quite the audience." He teased and laughed when Sarah groaned and pressed her face into his chest, missing the curtain of hair she usually wore down as a defense. She cursed lightly under her breath when she thought of her hair all messed up, a telling sign of what she'd just gotten up to with the Goblin King… on her neighbor's front lawn, no less.

"It's alright, Sarah," Jareth soothed, mistaking her muttered _oh, shit _for mere embarrassment at the thought of an audience. She could just see Karen in the very middle of it, surrounded by the gossipy Rose Meyers and their posse of chatty neighbors.

"Easy for you to say, since you're not going to spend the rest of the day facing your neighbors looking like you've just been… been…" Sarah found herself at a loss for words and pulled back to see Jareth smiling his usual grinning smirk or smirking grin, she hadn't actually found a word for it yet.

"Ravished by the Goblin King?" He offered suggestively, enjoying the reaction he was sure to get. "No, that comes later. But if it's your reputation you're concerned about…" He trailed off, one hand moving to the back of her head where he pulled away the elastic she'd used to hold her hair in place. He ran his fingers through her newly-freed hair, smoothing down flyaway strands with his hand and a little magic as Sarah watched him with curious eyes, just the slightest bit comforted by his ministrations on her hair.

"There. I'm afraid you'll have to wear your flushed cheeks and swollen lips proudly, but pink is very becoming on you and I'm sure my own lips are equally as bruised after your sound and thorough attack." Jareth teased, finally relinquishing his hold on Sarah. She rolled her eyes at his words, ignoring the flush of her cheeks as she contemplated the thought of _her _written all over him, on his lips and in his wilder-than-usual hair, and drew her hands away before reaching one out for Jareth's unoccupied right hand.

"Come on then, Goblin King. Time to face the audience." She sighed reluctantly, leading Jareth up the handful of stairs that brought them to the front door, wide open and just waiting for them to step into the lion's den. Jareth chuckled at her words and released her hand to hold her waist, dropping a reassuring kiss on her hair.

"Ah, but it's not just a show anymore, precious." He reminded her just as their hostess showed up to greet them.

"Sarah! How wonderful to see you again. Come in, come in." She ushered as the couple stepped inside, her eyes finally landing on the Goblin King. "And who's your friend?" Rose asked with a knowing glint in her eyes, and Sarah introduced Jareth for the first of many, many times.

It seemed as if every single minivan mom Sarah had known while growing up in the neighborhood stood in their way as they tried to navigate through the party, teasing Sarah relentlessly as they fawned over Jareth and tried to guess, out loud, how far the two were from tying the knot.

"Sarah never brings just anyone back home, you see," Shelly Johnson, mother to Toby's best friend, Tim, told Jareth in a stage-whisper and he played along.

"Well then, I'd best prove myself worthy." He smiled, conveniently leaving out the fact that Sarah had already brought him home a few times and he was well-acquainted with her family. Sarah herself was surprised that Karen hadn't already blabbed about everything to Shelly, considering the fact that she'd been convinced they were secretly together ever since Sarah had first introduced her stepmother to Jareth. But then again, they hadn't gotten along that well ever since it had been revealed that Tim's dare was what had caused Toby's accident.

The boys, however, had long gotten past this particular incident and were now back to their usual selves as they raced up to Jareth and Sarah, out of breath and hopping in excitement before they burst into synchronized chanting:

"Jareth and Sarah, sitting in a tree, K-I-"

"Toby!" Sarah snapped, clapping a hand over her younger brother's grinning mouth. He promptly bit her finger and went right back to his childish teasing as she dropped her hand away in shock, with Tim joining in after a missed beat.

"S-S-I-N-G!"

"That was most inappropriate, Tobias," Jareth said mildly, and Sarah's eyes widened in surprise for he would usually encourage Toby's behavior. Then Jareth smiled and Sarah knew she'd spoken too soon.

"Your sister and I were nowhere near a tree, let alone sitting in one." He corrected, earning himself a beaming smile.

"Hey, Jareth," Toby greeted, once again hopping from one foot to the other in excitement. "Are you gonna teach us how to juggle again?"

All things considered, juggling was the least cool thing Jareth had taught him, but Toby wasn't all that happy to share her sister's friend – now boyfriend, he supposed – with the other kids. Jareth taught him lots of cool magic tricks no one else knew how to do, and that was how he intended for it to remain. So whenever he was with his friends, he made sure not to mention a single word about Jareth's magic tricks and stuck to juggling, which was just fine with Jareth and Sarah, who knew that eventually, someone would have caught on to the fact that Jareth's magic had nothing to do with tricks at all.

"Later in the evening, perhaps. I'm here to escort your sister, you see." He leaned down to Toby's height and lowered his voice. "I've heard of a nasty little bugger called Jack." Seeing Toby's eyes widen in recognition, Jareth went on. "Perhaps you've seen him?"

"Jack's a dick," Toby said fiercely, and Jareth raised a brow at the boy's descriptive phrase. Apparently her little brother wasn't as little and innocent as Sarah liked to believe. "I saw him around earlier. Keep Sar away from him?" The young boy requested protectively and Jareth smiled.

"That's what I'm here for, Toby." He promised and clapped a hand on Toby's shoulder, wordlessly commending him on his defense of his sister before rising up to his full height. Sarah regarded the both of them with curious, slightly wary eyes and Jareth smiled reassuringly.

"Nothing to worry about, dearest. Young Toby was merely telling me that his mother is in the kitchen. Shall we find her?" He suggested and with one last hesitant look at her brother, Sarah gave in and let Jareth steer her away. She wanted to hug her brother, to let him know how glad she was to see him back to normal and to tell him she loved him, but Toby would probably push her away if she attempted anything of the sort in front of his friends… especially little Peggy Young, who she'd spotted in the corner of the room, trading shy glances with Toby. He really was growing up too fast.

Sarah was just glad he was growing up at all. She quickly abandoned that particular line of thought and presented Jareth with a fond smile. "_Now_ will you tell me what you two were whispering about?"

Jareth regarded her silently for a brief moment, looking at her in that intense way he sometimes did. She was always taken aback by the fierce emotions she'd catch in those looks.

"I promised him I'd take care of you," He finally said, pleased with his ability to tell the truth, just not the whole truth. Sarah shook her head and smiled slyly.

"You do know you're supposed to have that conversation with my dad, not Toby." She informed him and he shrugged.

"A little practice couldn't hurt." He seemed completely at ease with the idea of confronting her father and Sarah studied him curiously. Weren't all men supposed to get nervous when it came to meeting their… she couldn't really see Jareth calling her his girlfriend, even though he'd introduced himself as her boyfriend a handful of times. Then again, she couldn't really see the Goblin King getting nervous over dealing with her father, either. Still, she had to ask.

"You know he's going to question you like some kind of criminal. You're not nervous at all?"

Jareth paused mid-stride, bringing both of them to a standstill in the middle of the living room they had been traversing to get to the kitchen. His free hand tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before coming to rest on the side of her face. It was becoming a common gesture for them, she noted.

"Precious Sarah, the only reason your father will be interrogating me in such a manner is because he needs to know that I will treat you like a queen." He paused, giving her a meaningful look. "I intend to _make _you one."

Sarah shivered slightly and it had nothing to do with the light summer dress she'd worn on a slightly chilly spring day. She lost herself in Jareth's piercing gaze for a moment as she came to terms with his words.

"Okay," She finally breathed, nodding resolutely. Jareth smiled brightly at her acceptance of his words and they continued in their search for Karen. They were stopped by four more neighbors before they got to the kitchen and after studying the spacious area and all of the people who were pitching in to help, they found that Karen must have moved on.

"Hi, Emilia." Sarah smiled brightly, tapping on the woman's shoulder as Jareth stood by her side with a polite smile. They'd encountered her earlier and she'd been one of the few who had simply exchanged greetings and introductions before excusing herself. "Have you seen Karen?"

"Oh, you just missed her. She's helping Rose supervise outside." _Supervising_, in this instance, meant standing in the shade as the women gave out orders to the men who were setting up tables and chairs in preparation for dinner. Sarah thanked her and was about to turn to Jareth when Emilia called out a warning.

"Oh, and Sarah, be careful. I heard her say something about sharing the news with your father."

"Right," Sarah nodded with a grim smile. She just knew Jareth was smirking next to her. "Probably should've seen that one coming. Thanks again, Em."

"Good luck." Emilia smiled empathically at Sarah's reaction. She was just a few years older than Sarah and had probably been through similar situations with her own parents.

"It's as if everyone here has forgotten that I actually know and get along with your father," Jareth commented evenly as they made their way to the French doors that led to the backyard. "Even you, precious."

"The only reason for that is because he finally believed that we're just friends, Jareth." Sarah hissed discreetly as Karen spotted them and waved. She could see her father just up ahead, setting down the table he'd been carrying with two other men. "Once he hears that we were making out in the front yard, you're screwed."

"Thank you for the eloquent warning, dearest. I'll keep that in mind as I charm your father." Sarah wanted to snap at him, to narrow her eyes and tell him he'd better not mean that in the literal sense, Fae magic and all, but Karen had decided to meet them halfway and was now reaching out for a hug as Jareth released his hold on her side.

"Sarah!" She embraced her stepdaughter warmly for a few short seconds before pulling back, not wanting to push her luck. They got along most of the time, and neither objected to being called family, but years later Karen was still a little wary at all times, as if awaiting the inevitable return of the fifteen-year-old stepdaughter from hell. "Jareth," She acknowledged with a nod, smiling as Jareth quickly stepped in and wound his arm around Sarah's waist once more, preventing a similar manner of greeting. Not that Karen had ever tried to _hug _him, but better safe than sorry and desperate to explain away all of that magic.

"I saw you two outside earlier, but I didn't want to interrupt." Karen teased knowingly and Sarah groaned.

"Not you too!" She cried, leaning into Jareth's side.

"I'm so happy for the two of you," Karen went on undeterred. "Honestly, I was just waiting for some sort of confirmation. You were always so shy and quiet, beating around the bush and calling him a good friend."

Jareth stepped in before she could formulate a defensive reply. "I promise you, Karen, that Sarah was being perfectly honest. Things have only just changed," He shot Sarah a grin. "Quite suddenly, in fact."

"Oh," Karen said in surprise as she watched the young duo get caught up in each other's eyes. She wasn't quite convinced Jareth was sharing the whole truth – they had been awfully close every single time Sarah had brought him along to visit, and there was the part about her bringing him along in the first place – but she wasn't going to bring it up now. It wouldn't make a difference, anyway, now that they were so in love. It was really quite obvious, Karen thought, and she just hoped Robert would see it as well.

Sarah's father chose to join them then, as Karen beamed at his daughter, who seemed quite caught up in Jareth, who was, in turn, looking at her in a way Robert knew all too well. He used to look at Linda that way, people said, and sometimes at Karen, who would smile widely and say in words what he could only use his eyes to express – _I love you_.

He thought that maybe Jareth wasn't all that bad. He was a good guy, stable and polite, smart and fair, and he got along with the family, plus he made Sarah happier than Robert had seen her since she was a little girl.

And really, Sarah could do much worse, he was reminded as Jack Meyers, the little bastard who'd been out moving stuff for his mother, walked up to them with his usual, insufferable fake smile pasted on his face. Robert had found himself drifting away many times when engaged in conversation with the kid, daydreaming about putting his hands around the young man's neck in retribution for the horrible things he'd put Sarah through in high school. He'd heard Jack mutter, once or twice under his breath, that at least he knew where Sarah got it from, mistaking the older man's homicidal daydreams for the whimsical fantasies Sarah sometimes got caught up in.

"Well, well, if it isn't Sarah Williams." Jack drawled even as he fought to keep his eyes on the young woman and not her companion. He'd heard the rumors, of course, of Sarah being successful and famous and happily engaged, according to his mother, but she'd always had the tendency to embellish a bit, and noting Sarah's ring-less fingers, he knew his mother had outdone herself. But while she wasn't engaged, she was certainly _something _with the man who stood by her side, one possessive arm around her waist as he fixed a cold look on the intruder.

"Jack." Sarah said flatly, her curt greeting betraying none of the disgust she felt at the mere sight of the dark-haired stocky man. She was reminded of her past relationships and how she'd picked out her dates – as different from a certain Goblin King as possible. After three muscly brunettes she had never really been attracted to though, Sarah decided to put her personal life on hold and hadn't bothered to try again.

Until Jareth showed up and reminded her of why she'd once followed a shock of light hair in a sea of strangers for ten whole minutes until the man turned a corner and the spell was broken. It hadn't even been the same shade of gold and silver Jareth sported.

"Fancy seeing you here," Jack sneered. "Last I heard, you were some famous kid's writer, too big for this little old town."

"Yes, it's really quite impressive to see how much success Sarah has had, especially when in the presence of a similarly educated person who has failed so spectacularly at life." Jareth's words cut through the awkward silence as he squeezed Sarah's side. _Allow me to be the villain_.

Jack withered under the stranger's glare before the crash of something not far away reminded him of the current situation. He cleared his throat and held out his hand to the man.

"Jack Meyers." He said expectantly, waiting for the British man – he could tell from the accent, even if it was a little different from the ones he'd heard, more clipped and… _refined_? – to introduce himself. He waited for quite a while as Jareth shot his hand a disdainful look and left it hanging. Jack flushed in anger and humiliation as he stuffed his hand into his pocket.

"So," He turned to Sarah. "I see you got yourself a little lapdog, huh? Bodyguard, maybe?"

Sarah didn't even give him the satisfaction of glaring. Instead, she turned to Jareth and smiled brightly as she answered Jack's unspoken question.

"Boyfriend, actually," She turned back to face the unwelcome addition, a smirk forming on her lips. "And we both know I'm perfectly capable of defending myself, Jack."

When Jack had caught her on a bad day in senior year, mocking her in front of the entire student population, all of whom had dressed up as mystical creatures and princesses according to the prom theme, Sarah had simply waited for him to lean in and then kneed him.

Jack skipped graduation.

Nearly seven years later and he still wasn't quite over it, it seemed, as his face grew red and he stepped closer to Sarah. Jareth's hand shot out protectively, probably to shock him to death with a single touch, as Sarah turned to him and shook her head. _Please don't_.

"You-" Jack growled and Jareth nearly ignored Sarah's request. Robert stepped in, having a strange feeling that if he didn't, Jack wouldn't as livid and alive once Jareth's raised hand reached its target. The man had always given off a slightly dangerous vibe, something that warned you not to even lay a hand on those he held dear. It had unsettled Sarah's father at first, but then he realized it was probably a good thing for Sarah, someone Jareth most certainly held dear.

"I suggest, Jack," He said evenly, almost pleasantly. "That you stop snarling like a crazed dog and run off to your mother. You _do _need to earn your keep, don't you?"

Jack blanched at his words – his mother must have told Karen that he'd moved back in, damn it – and shooting one last glare at Sarah, turned around and stalked away, though the effect was ruined when he tripped over a rock no one had seen around up until then.

Robert turned to Jareth then, catching a glimpse of a smirk that was gone as quickly as it appeared, and wondered just who his daughter had gotten involved with. Jareth met his eyes and Robert shrugged, smiling at the man he knew would never let go of a single person who so much as dared to speak badly of Sarah, one way or another.

"I never did like that asshole."

* * *

**Well, this one took me quite a while to figure out. First I couldn't get it started the right way, then I couldn't break Jareth and Sarah out of their little bubble, and then there were all of these **_**people **_**standing in the way of just getting our new couple home and alone.**

**More on that in the next chapter, folks. **

**As usual, thank you all for the great, encouraging reviews. I was genuinely nervous about the way I'd handled things in the last chapter so thank you all for being so nice and supportive. It feels really good to know that we can all agree on how things should have gone for Sarah and Jareth this time. I hope you're as happy with the next (and final) chapter. I'm still working on that even though I've got a pretty solid idea of how things will start. It's just the end I have to figure out and the possibility of it leading to an epilogue. Any ideas or suggestions on what you'd like to see?**

_**E Salvatore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


	9. Part III: Chapter III

**PART III**

_**Chapter III**_

* * *

Short meetings scattered throughout thirteen (less, actually, thanks to his little stunt in the tunnels) hours, nine years of complete silence from either party and eleven months of mending their relationship.

They hadn't known each other very long at all, really, even though Sarah sometimes felt like she couldn't think back to a time when her life didn't involve the Goblin King. Long before she'd even called on him, he'd featured prominently in her plays and daydreams, though as the villain she'd condemned him to be, not the person she'd come to know. And now that she knew him, as Jareth and the Goblin King and a _person _all rolled into one, Sarah had told herself that she wouldn't risk losing or alienating him again. She told herself they would do things the proper way now, no masks or acts, no villains and heroines, just Jareth and Sarah. She told herself they would work things out one step at a time. She told herself they would take things slow.

And then Jareth pinned her to the front door just as she shut it behind them and kissed her in a way he hadn't yet, unrestrained and freely, and she forgot all about _slow _because dear God, the things he could make her feel with a single kiss. Her fingers found purchase in his hair, now back to its natural state, as he picked her up easily, prompting her legs to wrap around him as he somehow managed to navigate through her living room while focused on her.

"Sarah," He murmured when she pulled away for air, redirecting his attention to her neck and exposed collarbone, alternatively kissing and nipping at her bare skin. Sarah gasped wildly, both in response to his ministrations and as an inhale, trying desperately to fight through the haze in her mind as it clouded her thoughts. Jareth's hands certainly weren't helping as they slipped under the skirt of her bunched up dress to find her waist, warm fingers splayed across sensitive skin. But the sudden heat and burst of magic upon her skin sent shockwaves across Sarah's body and mind, finally bringing her back to the present.

"Wait," She gasped as Jareth walked them into the short hallway that led to her bedroom. She vaguely registered the sight of her closed door before it swung open and Jareth looked up from where his head had been hidden in the hollow of her neck to regard her.

"What's wrong, precious?" He asked with mild concern in his hazy eyes. It was the first time Sarah had ever seen them look anything less than sharp and observant. Jareth sat down on her bed, taking her with him as she sat in his lap, hands sliding from his hair to his neck.

"It's wrong," Sarah managed to force out, breathless and dazed. "It's all wrong."

Jareth's grip on her fell slack, fingers uncurling as he released her, hands hovering millimeters away from her skin as if she'd burned him. His smiling lips thinned into a firm line and his eyes shone with hurt and rejection before a chill froze them over. Sarah's words finally caught up to her and her eyes widened as she pressed herself closer to the now unresponsive and tense Goblin King.

"Oh, no!" She exclaimed, panicked and desperate to correct him. "No, no, no," She chanted, hands moving to frame Jareth's face. "Not you," She reassured him, watching him watch her as her eyes bore into his, slowly melting the thin layer of ice coating his blue orbs as she leaned in and kissed him chastely. "Not you," She breathed against his lips, smiling at the utter absurdity of the situation. She'd never imagined Jareth so insecure, so in need of reassurance. It endeared him to her all the more even as a pang shot through her heart and her mind told her this is what she had done to him nine years ago. But that was why she had to fix things now, why they had to do make it right and take things slowly. "Never you, Jareth. You couldn't ever be wrong for me."

Jareth sighed and she felt the slow curve of his lips against hers before he pulled back, wordlessly urging her to go on. She dropped her hands from his cheeks and wrung them together, fighting the sudden urge to look away from him.

"It's just… this. Us," She gestured at their current state, breathless and flushed, clothes and hair messed up. "I told myself I wouldn't take any risks. I thought we'd do it the right way, we'd take it slow, because I don't want to mess this up, Jareth. I can't. If I had to live with myself knowing that I messed us up-"

"Sarah," Jareth's hands were suddenly on her own, taking them into his hold, tracing the skin of her palms and the insides of her wrist soothingly. "Beautiful, precious Sarah," She smiled because even now, he was trying to charm her and he followed suite, smiling with his mouth and his eyes as he laced their fingers together, bringing her right hand to his lips as he pressed a reassuring kiss to her knuckles. His eyes danced, not with the usual mischief and amusement but with warmth and love and sincerity, emotions so genuine she felt like crying because no one had ever looked at her that way in all the years she had spent trying to patch up her empty heart – it was always Jareth, all along, and no one else.

"I love you," Jareth proclaimed strongly, freeing both hands to caress the sides of her face as her eyes widened and her vision swam, solitary teardrops tracing their own paths down her cheeks one at a time. Jareth wiped away her tears with his thumbs, fingers splayed across each side of her face as he held her eyes with his own. "I have loved you since the moment I saw the woman you would become, and I will love you until there is nothing but rust and stardust, and if there is a life after that, I will love you then." He vowed and she shuddered at the intensity of his eyes and words. "And nothing, _nothing _in this world or any other, that you do – or don't," He added thoughtfully after a second's pause. "Will ever change that. Believe me, precious Sarah."

A sob caught in her throat as her mind raced and though her emotions were a mess and her heart was beating so fast it _hurt_, all she knew was that she couldn't leave Jareth hanging, not after that.

"_Rust and stardust_?" She quoted, her voice thick with emotions she struggled to put into words and tears she kept to herself, with the exception of the occasional drop that escaped her and drew a thin trail down her cheeks. "What happened to forever?" She smiled despite herself, slowly calming down.

Jareth laughed at her reaction – nine years later and she still surprised him – and pressed his lips to her forehead before he drew her to himself, holding her tightly against his chest. Sarah burrowed her head into the crook of his neck and he pressed his cheek against the side of her head, murmuring into her hair.

"It's not nearly long enough to spend with you." He sighed in reply, feeling a dreadful weight disappear from his chest. The whole day – the whole eleven months, actually – had been an emotional rollercoaster, a phrase Sarah used quite often, and after the last few minutes of mindless need, uncontrollable passion and mistaken rejection, Jareth thought he would be content to remain in her bed, with Sarah in his arms, until the sun set and came up again.

Sarah had different plans, however, as Jareth's words finally sunk into her mind. He loved her. He would always love her, and there was nothing she could do to change it – and really, she'd already done the worst thing possible nine years ago, and here he was. She didn't know why she had ever doubted him. Taking it slow seemed a laughable idea when he'd just professed his undying love for her and she felt the exact same way.

One second Jareth was holding her and the next he was on his back, eyes wide as he tried to catch up to the fact that she'd just pulled away from his hold and pushed him down, into her bed. Now she hovered above him, legs straddling his middle as she leaned forward, hands gently cupping his face as she looked into his eyes. "I love you." She murmured, lips finally touching his. Jareth froze at her words for all of five seconds before her kiss brought him back to life and his arms settled on her waist as he kissed her back with all that he had kept to himself, afraid to surrender and give in to Sarah before he was completely sure of her feelings.

Sarah pulled away, breathless and smiling, and said it again, clearer and louder. She kissed him again and repeated herself firmly. Again, and again, and in between kisses and finally laughter, free and unburdened as she shared her love for him.

"I love you, I love you, I love you."

Jareth welcomed each kiss and shared confession. He'd waited nine long years for Sarah to come to reciprocate and then come to terms with their love and now here she was, keeping him locked in place with her own body above his as she smiled and kissed and loved.

Eventually, of course, he turned them around and kept her on her back as he demonstrated in actions what she moaned in words.

He held her in his arms as the sun set and until it came up again, filtering in through the curtains to shine on a sleeping Sarah, curled up in Jareth's embrace as he played with a lock of her hair and thought ahead to their future.

Sarah had said something about taking things slow but after the events of last night, surely she'd decided against it?

Turning to glance at her nightstand and the smaller, more delicate looking royal amulet he'd conjured, he could only hope Sarah was ready to give up on this _slow _business.

Jareth looked down at the sleeping woman in his arm again, smiling as she turned her face into his chest, hiding from the rising sun.

He supposed he'd find out when she woke up and reacted to his proposal.

* * *

**END OF PART III**

* * *

**Yeah, so you can probably tell from this that romance isn't usually my thing. Well, the **_**physical **_**aspect of it. Fluff and angst I do quite well, and certainly there'll be more to come of those as the plot bunnies have already started work on more Jareth/Sarah.**

**Until then, I hope this was a worthy payoff after eight chapters of friendship building and emotional development, because that's as far as they'll go with me around… hence the short chapter. But I'm sure we can all fill in the blanks to make up for it, yes?**

**I'm still fuzzy on what to write for the epilogue but there will definitely be one, hopefully by tomorrow. I'll keep my thank-you speech for that, then. For now, thank you for reading, thank you for reviewing and thank you for being an awesome fandom. This has been the most fun I've had writing in a long, long time. (Shh, don't tell the other fandoms!)**

_**E Salvatore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


	10. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

* * *

Stray beams of sun sneaked past the curtains and warmed her skin, not that she needed any more heat, thanks to the sheets tangled around her body and the man whose chest she was resting upon. He was breathing evenly, as he had for the last two minutes, and not a word had escaped his lips but she knew, somehow, that he was aware of her being awake. She didn't want him to be aware of it – didn't want him to greet her with a hopeful smile and beautiful words and a symbolic, probably important, amulet. But she couldn't pretend to sleep for the rest of the day and really, once they got their tricky good-morning conversation done with, the rest of the day seemed quite promising.

With a heavy sigh, Sarah's eyes flew open – like a Band-Aid, just rip it off – and landed on the amulet sitting on the nightstand next to Jareth's side – funny how quickly it had become his, as had a chair in the kitchen and a small amount of her library – for the fourth morning in a row.

"Good morning, precious," Jareth greeted with a smile in his voice as he reached for the necklace – really, it was more of a medallion, she supposed – scooping it up with his slim fingers as she peeled herself away from him, scooting up against the headboard as she eyed him expectantly. How he kept coming up with touching ways to express his love for her in perfect monologues morning after morning was truly a mystery, and the fact that he did it all with a beautiful smile and glowing eyes was nothing short of baffling.

"G'morning," She mumbled, fighting through the sleepy haze in her mind as she drew her knees to her chest and turned slightly to face him, her eyes urging him to just get it over with as she bit on her lower lip, wondering why she couldn't just give in.

Maybe some part of her was as evil and twisted as the Goblin King half of Jareth and she actually enjoyed tormenting him and letting his insecurity fester inside his heart each day as she turned him down.

If so, then she should probably just give in and say yes. Only a Goblin Queen could get away with such malice and still be loved by her King.

She worried her bottom lip as her mind pondered a dozen thoughts, all related to the question Jareth was about to ask her and the answer she would give him. It had been a firm _no _for the past three mornings; today she was tempted to give him a _maybe_.

"Darling Sarah-mine, I've phrased this in every single way romantically possibly and the average woman would have long given in by now, you stubborn child." He reprimanded with a mock scowl before his eyes cleared up and his features softened once more. Sarah rolled her eyes – Jareth's mood swings were ridiculous and legendary in the Underground but she knew this one was an act – and waited for him to go on.

"But you have never been average, precious," Jareth said gently, reaching for her hand. She placed it in his and allowed him to hold on tight, a reassurance in its own little way. "And so maybe, just maybe, I have been going about this in the wrong manner, especially since you so horrifically misunderstood my first proposal."

Sarah wrenched her hand out of his with a frustrated cry and gestured wildly. "How many times have we talked about this, Jareth? I was _fifteen _and you were all-"

Jareth reclaimed her hand with a firm look, making her pause in the middle of her aggravated defense of her fifteen-year-old self. "Sarah," He said simply, his tone leaving no room for interruption as he commanded her, with a single word, to hear him out. Sarah huffed but did not defy him, wondering just what he had come up with today. _The wrong manner_, he'd said. Maybe Jareth had decided to change things up; demand that she marry him _or else_, perhaps.

His eyes bore into hers and any lingering trace of sleep in her green orbs quickly drained away as she became acutely aware of his intense mismatched gaze, looking at her in a way that made her terribly aware of the fact that underneath the sheets, she was as naked as the day she'd been born. In the periphery of her vision, she could clearly see the path of destruction Jareth had carved just the night before, abused clothes and lingerie tracing a path from her art room to their bedroom. Her heart pounded and swelled under his heated look, still conflicted when it came to the intensity and depth of his feelings for her. That probably explained why she'd reacted badly to the following question since the first morning they'd woken up cuddled together, though his proposal had been considerably more eloquent and long-winded then.

"Sarah, precious, I love you and I want you by my side forever as my Queen. Will you _please _do me the honor of being my wife?"

So she'd reduced him to begging. Some part of her felt horrible. It was the dominant part of her mind, recently hijacked by her heart. A tiny part of her, a voice she quickly blocked, was undeniably smug and satisfied to have turned the tables on him. She hated that tiny voice; it was mainly to blame for the fact that she had yet to snatch the amulet – medallion – whatever – out of Jareth's outstretched fingers and put it on.

Still, that bigger part of her thrilled and flushed and danced about at the mere notion of being Jareth's queen, his _wife_. In her mind, a miniature Sarah swooned and fainted, falling to the ground as she murmured unintelligibly about how beautiful their children would be.

Finally freed of the silly romantic in her as she hallucinated about life with Jareth in the Underground as a married couple, Sarah leaned forward, falling into Jareth's arms as she wound her own around his middle. She sighed heavily when he stilled, caught by surprise at her reaction, and the sound of her drawn-out exhale prompted him to wrap his own arms around her waist, holding her close.

"I told you things don't work that way, Jareth," Sarah whispered reluctantly into his neck. A girl simply did not go and get engaged to a guy after one or three nights together, even if the guy happened to be a Goblin King who'd loved her for nearly a decade. She pulled back to face Jareth, her fingers absent-mindedly slipping into his hair.

"You don't just get married to someone after sleeping together, no matter how-"

Jareth tensed and she wondered what she'd said this time as he pulled her hands away from him and lowered them. "And is that what you think of us, Sarah-mine? That what we've been doing for the past three days - that the intimacy we've shared - is merely categorized as _sleeping together_?" His rant had been delivered in a perfectly icy, chilling tone until he spat out the last two words, disapproving and maybe a little disgusted.

"What?" Sarah's eyes widened. "Damn it," She growled, hooking her arms around his neck to draw Jareth closer. "No! I love you, you insufferable man! I'm just saying that we can't just fall into bed one night, wake up and say _I love you _and then get hitched! Things are different here, Jareth. You flirt and you go on dates and then maybe you move in together, and if you manage to _not _kill each other after sharing a bathroom and holding a conversation first thing in the morning without any coffee, _then _you maybe, possibly think about getting married."

He regarded her curiously, the tiniest spark lighting up his blue eyes. "And what, pray tell, have we been doing for the last eleven months, precious?" He sounded reasonable, a little confused and a tiny bit amused, victorious. She was speechless.

Jareth had flirted with her since the very first night he'd returned, so that was a stupid thing to say. And he'd been on countless dates with her ever since she'd first asked him to her showing, although most of them had felt so natural she hadn't even thought of them that way and really, they'd only called them _dates _jokingly. As for living together… Jareth had his own shelves – yes, _shelves _– on her bookcase. She thought of the bedroom as _their _bedroom. He literally proposed to her every morning before the first cup of coffee had been brewed in the apartment and though they got at each other's throats and yelled and insulted, never once had she truly been mad at him and not a single time had he let her provoke him into actual rage.

"Why, Sarah? Why can't you just give in to _both _of us?" Jareth questioned, drawing her closer with his hold on her waist. Sarah moved her hands so that her palms were pressed up against his chest, allowing her to study him.

"So much would change," She whispered, eyes focused on the pale skin of his chest. Jareth sighed and raised one hand to curl a finger under her chin, bringing her eyes up to his.

"So much already has," He said softly. "And hasn't it been good?"

Sarah smiled despite herself. "Very, very good." She admitted and she wasn't even referring to the nights they now spent together, although that, too, was very, very good. It was the way Jareth held her as they slept, as if he would never let go of her again. It was the way she felt when she woke up, and he was the first person she saw. It was the way they could sit together quietly, for hours, and be as content and comfortable around each other as they were when they were out and about, trading stories and sharing laughs. It was the way Jareth made her feel, for the very first time, as if she finally belonged – somewhere, _with _someone and not _to_, because she was his equal now in ways her fifteen-year-old self never could have been.

And it scared her shitless, frankly, this sense of belonging, because she could just get lost in it forever and not emerge, just remain in her perfect little bubble with Jareth for the rest of eternity and not once think of her life Aboveground, her family, her career. She sighed again, one hand finding his thumping heart as the other traced his jaw, his cheekbones… she hoped their children would get his bone structure and it gave her a panic attack because it felt so natural to assume they'd have children, someday. Jareth had made a passing reference to little Goblin princes and princesses two days ago and the infamous butterflies had gone crazy in her stomach, their wildly fluttering wings generating so much energy her belly had grown pleasantly warm at the thought of their children. Her hand finally settled on the side of his face as she met his eyes.

"I can't just give everything up, Jareth. It's tempting and whimsical and any other girl would probably call me crazy but I can't just leave this life and be your Queen in a magical world. I have my family and my books and it's boring and so painfully normal but it's _mine_, this weird little life I've carved out and if I gave it up for you and became someone else… what would that say about _me_?" She finished her little speech and waited with baited breath for Jareth to react.

He chuckled and released his hold on her waist to frame her face between his warm hands. "Silly, silly girl," He laughed fondly, leaning in to rest his forehead against hers.

"Where in the world did you get the idea that I would make you give up all of _this_?"

Silence reigned for a blissful seven seconds before Sarah began sputtering. "But I – you – the Underground is-"

"Just a teleportation spell away, dearest." Jareth finished patiently, trying to get her to see some sense. "You – we, in fact – could come back anytime. If you'd like, we could even live here… for now," He was quick to add, no doubt thinking of the much larger bedroom he had in the Castle. No disgruntled neighbors knocking on the wall at two in the morning to make him _keep it down_. "We'd spend some time in the Kingdom, of course, carrying out our obligations and such, and at the end of each day, we'd return here, Aboveground. On free days you could write and paint and on weekends we could visit your family. We'd go off on vacation once in a while, of course, a Queen should know all of her realm and you missed the very best parts during your last visit-"

"Huh, I wonder why," Sarah cut in, earning herself a disapproving look that was gone as soon as she had spotted it. "So… sounds like you've got this all planned out."

"You gave me a long time to plan," Jareth said softly, not even the slightest trace of accusation in his voice. She was glad – they wouldn't have gotten this far if he'd still held her decision against her, and as much as she'd fretted over it in the past nine years and wondered about what could have been, she knew it had been the right decision to make at fifteen. She hadn't been ready for any of this then, all of this personal stuff with Jareth, let alone to assume the responsibilities of a Queen – speaking of which…

"And what else should a Queen know?" She aimed for casual and ended up sounding nervous. One of Jareth's hands smoothed back wild tendrils of hair, pushing them all away as he offered her a reassuring smile.

"A lot, certainly, but nothing that you can't learn in a century or two." He teased and her mind paused at the sheer impossibility of that sentence. It wasn't the first time Jareth had made references to such a length of time but this time, she would question him. They would hammer out all of the details before she agreed to anything.

"Jareth," She said abruptly, stopping him before he could go on to outline her responsibilities. She wanted to know about those too, of course, but first she had to know how exactly she was going to have a century or two to learn anything.

"Yes, dearest?" Jareth replied curiously, though there was a hint of smugness and triumph in his voice and his eyes now that she was at least considering his proposal.

"I don't have a century or two," She swallowed hard, eyes flitting about her bedroom before Jareth reclaimed her attention. "Not Aboveground, at least." She shrugged. Jareth smiled at her display of nonchalance – even though she'd failed miserably. It was so much harder to fool him now that it had been in the early days of their friendship.

"Sarah, I have turned the world upside down for you before and I am prepared to do it again." Sarah's green eyes shone with curiosity she tried to curb, waiting patiently for Jareth to explain. "In the beginning, I'd planned to simply turn you into an immortal human, the way the lost children are – it wouldn't do to grant Fae parents a child of their own only for time to rip the little one away after a mere eight decades or so."

"But then you won – you conquered the Labyrinth – and Toby wasn't your only prize."

"What?" Sarah asked, wondering why Jareth had never brought this up.

"You left before I could tell you," Jareth responded to the unspoken question. "And after that, it was never the right time to tell you. _Sarah, pass me the remote, would you? Oh, and by the way, when are you coming back to claim your rightful place as Lady of the Labyrinth and Goblin Queen?_" He mimicked a daily conversation, tacking on the last bit of information with a grin.

"Oh." Her mind raced but still it didn't exactly answer her question.

"I wasn't the only one to grant you certain powers, Sarah. Should you return, the Labyrinth will make sure that you are up to the task of guarding it – magical gifts and all."

After twenty-five years spent Aboveground and a good half of those years cursing her normal life, wishing to escape, craving magic in her existence – Jareth was offering her all that on top of himself, for eternity.

Her mind couldn't process all of this.

"Come on, Your Highness, let's go have breakfast," She pulled away from his touch, swinging her legs over her side of the bed to touch the ground. "I can't keep up with any of this without coffee."

Jareth laughed and followed suite, meeting her by the foot of the bed after returning the amulet to its place on the nightstand. He knew that this was Sarah's way of saying she needed a break and after all that they had covered – so much more productive than a vehement _no_ – he wasn't going to push her any further.

"Anything my Queen desires," He said, drawing one hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to Sarah's knuckles. "I'll get started on the coffee, then, shall I?"

"Yeah, that'd be great." Sarah smiled, disappearing into the bathroom once he'd released her hand. Jareth went ahead and true to his word, when Sarah emerged from her morning routine in the bathroom, she found two cups of coffee sitting on the breakfast table. Jareth had left the cooking to her, though, possessing enough common sense and grace to simply concede defeat when it came to the stove and leave that part to her.

She asked him, casually, to outline the responsibilities she would have as Queen with her back turned to him, concentrating on the eggs she was making for them and he subtly promised, wordlessly picking up on her apprehension, that Goblin Queens did not have the same responsibilities as Goblin Kings. There was no mention of wished-aways in his extensive list of duties he had neglected to tend to in the absence of a Queen that Sarah would need to see to.

They ate their breakfast and moved to the living room, discussing living arrangements as Sarah channel-surfed and Jareth tried to keep up with the programs as they flew by.

"But if there's so much to do," Her brows furrowed. "How did you manage to spend so much time with me?"

"I have trusted advisors, Sarah," Jareth had explained patiently before giving into her pointed look. "And perhaps the few hours we spent apart in the Aboveground were much longer than that in my realm."

"You re-ordered time?" She asked incredulously, mind latching onto a line he'd spoken once before.

"I couldn't very well disappear for days at a time, now could I?"

She observed him in silence for a while after that, wondering just how much Jareth had actually done to be with her.

There wasn't much to discuss after and Sarah asked him for one last normal day, promising to return with him to the Underground tomorrow – just for a day, she warned. Just to see how things were and how they would be. He agreed and asked if she'd like to meet her friends. Sarah stilled and Jareth took this as his chance to finally ask her something he'd been wondering about for a long time.

"Sarah, precious – why did you stop calling on them in the first place?"

With a heavy sigh, Sarah leaned into him, sprawled out across the couch, and took a moment to gather her thoughts. "I had to grow up, but I didn't want to, not with them around. They were my best friends and the only ones who knew everything about me, and after a while, they were the only friends I'd bothered to keep. Throughout high school, everyone said I became more withdrawn. I didn't talk much, didn't do much, just spent most of my time in my room. No one knew I was talking to knights and partying with goblins, of course, so they were worried. Not that the truth would have been any less worrying for them," She thought out loud and Jareth grinned.

"Eventually, though, I had to leave for college. It was time to grow up, really grow up, and I knew that I couldn't as long as I kept that big a part of my childhood with me. They understood, though, Sir Didymus and Hoggle and Ludo. They knew why I had to say goodbye."

He allowed her a brief pause before going on. "And when I came back? Why not ask to see them then?"

Sarah laughed, short and a little bitter. He hadn't ever heard that sound from her. "I was _scared_. So scared to face them that I chose to stay away and hide." She purposely kept her eyes focused on the screen, embarrassed to meet Jareth's probing gaze. Jareth sighed and dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

"Sarah, there's nothing for you to be scared of. Your friends miss you, even that selfish little dwarf." She'd yet to ask him about his relationship with Hoggle – contrary to what she had thought, Jareth actually got along with most of his subjects, with the very noticeable exception of one royal gardener. But that was a story for another day.

"They told you so?" She asked hopefully.

"They came to me regularly, asking for word about you. All they wanted to know was that you were alright. They really do understand why you said goodbye, dearest, and no one could hold it against you."

They sat in silence as Sarah contemplated this recent discovery and eventually she asked, in a very small voice, for Jareth to bring her to her friends tomorrow. He promised her the stars, the moon and her ragtag band of misfits.

And that was that. Jareth and Sarah sat, curled up together like it was any other rainy day. She asked for stories about the goblins and he asked her about her plans for life in the Aboveground. She worried over meeting his parents and he told her his mother loved her already. She talked about rallying the Castle goblins together for AA meetings and after having the concept explained to him, Jareth laughed and said she was a great Queen already.

Much, much later, as the sun set and the news came on, Sarah suddenly got to her feet and walked out of the living room. Jareth's eyes followed her for a moment before figuring that she must've gone to the bathroom and he focused on the evening news, having gotten into the habit of keeping up with Aboveground happenings.

The local news station's report on the apprehension of a long-wanted criminal was quickly forgotten when Sarah returned to the room, house phone in one hand and amulet in the other.

Jareth's throat constricted and his mouth felt disturbingly dry as Sarah settled in next to him, sitting cross-legged on the other end of the couch instead of resuming her former curled up position. She caught his eye, prompting him to turn slightly to face her, and with one beautiful smile, she punched in a set of numbers and held the phone to her ear, maintaining eye contact with Jareth the whole time.

"Hey, Karen?" She spoke after a few rings. "Yeah, it's Sarah. How's everyone?" She took advantage of Karen's distraction as she rattled off the events of the past few days to her, slipping the amulet over her head and down her neck, feeling it settle a few inches further down from her collarbone. Never once did her eyes break away from Jareth's, even when his shone so brightly with joy she thought she was going to cry right then and hurl herself into his arms. She settled for reaching out her free hand and lacing her fingers together with Jareth's as Karen's summary came to an end.

"So, Karen, I was wondering if we could drop by tomorrow." She smiled then, an answering smile every bit as brilliant as Jareth's.

"Jareth and I have some news."

* * *

**THE END**

* * *

**Okay, first and foremost: there were totally cordless house phones by then. Google tells me they were introduced in 1994 (well, a quick skim through an article I found on Google, anyway) and I've set this in 1995, so there.**

**Well… that's that, folks. First things first – if you're still in the mood for more, the original first chapter of what was supposed to be the second part – from back when I was going to skip eleven months ahead without snippets in-between – can be found on my blog. The link to that can, in turn, be found on my profile. Check it out if you'd like, just keep in mind that it's completely irrelevant to the storyline now.**

**And now that even the last bit of extra material has been shared with you guys, I suppose it's really the end… for now. Thank you all for joining me on my maiden voyage through the Labyrinth as I navigated its twists and turns and got inside a Goblin King's head and a Champion's heart. It's truly been the most wonderful experience and reading your reviews makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, not unlike the way I feel after reading some good Jareth/Sarah fluff. I'm glad to have coaxed smiles and provided laughs, for entertaining and amusing you lot, and hopefully we'll continue this soon – as soon as I sort through all of the ideas in my mind and settle on one. In the meantime, I'll be spending the weekend getting back to you guys while I take a short break from writing, and I look forward to thanking each of you personally and getting to know all of you. **

**For the last time, why not share your thoughts on **_**Try A Little Tenderness**_** and maybe wave goodbye to this version of Jareth and Sarah? I have a feeling we won't be seeing them for a while… if ever again. They'll be too busy living out their happily-ever-after, you see.**

_**E Salvatore,**_

_**April 2013.**_


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